A Dream of Fangs and Flowers
by Megamafan16
Summary: Long-awaited sequel to The Angel of Madness! Alice has caught a break and is trying to enter the civilized world for the first time since the fire...trying to at least act like a normal person. But why is she having such trouble holding a job? Why is the Veiled Detective pursuing her? And why are Wonderland's pigeons calling her a serpent? Rated T for references.
1. A New Beginning

Disclaimer: I do not own American McGee's Alice, or any of the associated media and characters, that belongs to American McGee and Electronic Arts. Nor do I own Doctor Who or its characters, which belong to BBC.

It's been a few years since I wrote the first story, but I hope it pleases those who read it!

* * *

Alice Liddell

Madame Vastra

Jenny Flint

A DREAM OF FANGS AND FLOWERS

by Megamafan16

Chapter 1: A New Beginning

* * *

London, 1886, where things only looked good on the surface...and even then, only if one looked in the right place.

It was a place of repression, both internal and external. Whenever the pea soup fog clears, the respectable people expected to see none of the realities of their wondrous city. London was the heart of the great British Empire, and the manners of its people and cities should reflect that.

Mr. Toby Russell of Russell's Books applies that principle to his store, because he's in a respectable part of London. And only respectable people have the opportunity to read his books. Alice learned this through observation.

But Alice's powers of observation are limited, or she would have expected his reaction to her. One morning as she walked up to the store, just like any other day, to work at the counter, it happened. Instead of letting her in as usual, Mr. Russell barred her entrance. His eyes were narrowed, and his arms were crossed; everything about his body language pushed Alice away.

"What seems to be the problem, Mr. Russell?" she asked,

His expression narrowed even further. "Seems?" he asked indignantly, "You really don't know?"

"No, actuallly. I have done nothing wrong, and-"

"I'd call stealing from my shop wrong!" he exclaimed, rudely interrupting her. The sheer volume of his outburst forced Alice to step back a few feet, almost crashing into someone who just happened to be walking by.

Alice felt eyes start to wander in her direction, and she realized she was having a conversation she didn't want anyone to hear. "Mr. Russell, I fear we are making a scene. Perhaps we could discuss this somewhere..."

"Not an option. I'm not letting you near any of my books again. Sixteen times one's gone missing, and six times they didn't return. That's six times too many! You didn't think I wouldn't find out, did you?"

"Mr. Russell, I'm sure if you knew where they were, you wouldn't be so indignant about their loss."

"Oh but I do. You're giving them to the cheap harlots at the Pawned Queen!"

Alice was shocked to hear him exclaim that phrase with such disdain. "So I could read to them! Giving them the skills at reading and writing that will allow them to escape their horrid profession, and find opportunities for survival other than self-degradation!" she exclaimed defensively. She was passionate about this topic, and it made her temporarily forget that she was drawing a small crowd.

She did notice quickly, but this only caused her to lower her gaze slightly and decrease her volume, as she continued: "These women owe so much to those books. I couldn't persuade them to part with them even if I wanted to."

For a split-second, Alice thought she saw Toby's countenance softening. But by the time she perceived it, it was gone: "That's some sob story, Alice, but I'm not a charitable person. Charity don't mix with business, especially with whores involved! Besides, stealing in the name of charity is still stealing!"

Alice's heart started beating faster. "Please, sir. With the Contagious Diseases Act being repealed soon, their profession's becoming illegal. They need somewhere else to turn, and they have none."

"I don't want to hear it. You're too nice to send to prison," he said, causing Alice to sigh in relief; "but you're not welcome in my shop again, not as a worker nor as a buyer."

Both sides paused, and they noticed the crowd starting to disperse. They had their fill of drama.. "I suppose this is where we part ways then?"

When he nodded in the affirmative, Alice stepped forward, and extended her hand "Farewell, Mr. Russell. You were a fair employer, and that's more than I expected."

"...Thanks," said Mr. Russell with a half-hearted handshake. "Now, off you go."

Alice turned around, and walked down the street to be lost in the crowd. And Mr. Russell considered his hand, having been shaken by a woman so familiar with the lowest of the low, in spite of her apparently respectable dress.

He felt so unclean. In fact, he could have sworn his hand felt somewhat drier upon releasing Alice's hand...

…...

…...

 _Oh Toby, there you go again. You kicked out your most diligent employee for associating with whores. Oh well, got to keep up appearances, eh? You've worked your whole life to get where you are now. And look where it got you._

 _You're not making as much money as you thought you would, even by selling these ten a penny novels to the snooty, unappreciative upper crust of society._

 _Don't get me wrong, they're much better than the poor. By God, you hate the poor, don't you? Because that's where you come from: the lowest of the low. Your father was a criminal, and your mother whored herself out for pittances._

 _It wasn't hard work that got you apprenticed to that printer, but luck. Chance. And that luck hasn't got you to the ranks of the gentlemen where you truly long to be. And why shouldn't you? You're as cultured, as refined, as stuck-up as any of them, you deserve to join them. But only if luck turns in your favor like it did back then._

 _You would kill for a chance like that again, would you? Good, because it will pass you by unless you seize it. And I can help you._

 _Accept me, Toby Russell. I am your strength._

… _..._

… _..._

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

As calm as she seemed on the outside, Alice Liddell was trying her best not to shout at herself. How could she have been so foolish? Why didn't she buy the books instead of steal them? Then she could have helped those prostitutes even more, and for longer.

She got lucky, and she aimed to take full advantage of that luck. That encounter with the Weeping Angel left her in contact with Charles Dodgson and his friends, individuals willing to help her reintegrate into society. And thanks to her experience of adventuring with the Doctor, she was willing to accept their help.

They got her some new clothes, more indicative of her growing up and being an adult. She now wore dresses that all but reached the ground, like most ladies did. It even had a bustle to enhance her backside, despite its going against her practical nature. She also wore longer sleeves and gloves, the two of which covered her forearms entirely. Adding a bonnet to her ensemble, as well as shawls for the colder days, completed her new grown-up ensemble.

Her education was finished, thanks to Dodgson's literary knowledge plus the best tutors his meager earnings could spare the coins for. She had a comfortable home at his estate for a while, before finally moving to a small flat near the river. They even helped her find gainful employment.

Looking after herself was hard without enough money to hire a servant, but she wouldn't have one even if she had the money. After all, memories of being Dr. Bumby's servant were relatively fresh in her mind, despite it being almost ten years since his death. It did give her a reason to keep around her old apron from long ago – amazing how it could still be useful, and for its intended purpose no less.

Employment presented another challenge altogether: she just couldn't hold a job for long. Whether it was a backstage helper at an opera house, a maid to some brutish aristocrat she forgot the name of, or even bookseller under Mr. Russell, some problem would always arise and force her back into the frenetic doldrums of unemployment. The challenge had become to make enough money to last her between jobs.

"This time seems a little more difficult," she said to herself, "given that I spent much of my time and money helping Nan's girls."

" _Misfortune, and now compassion, conspire to keep you in misery. But you always have us, don't you?_ "

The voice cut through her self-absorbed reverie and frightened her slightly. She was so sure that, back at her small flat, she was alone with her thoughts...

...but a glance at the source of the voice revealed she was indeed alone with her thoughts. And her thoughts had transformed her one-room dwelling into a vast, dense jungle, filled with tall trees, glowing mushrooms and falling leaves and...

"Cheshire puss. You're late, even for the cryptic advice you usually give me."

" _Was I? I only know as much as you do, Alice. If you don't know how someone will react, how can I warn you?_ " purred the Cheshire Cat with his namesake grin.

"That's the problem. I should have known. It was so obvious, with the self-important manner he strutted about his store. His keen attention to detail."

" _And yet you assumed he would approve of your helping the prostitutes with his wares. Would you consider that an improvement?Long ago, you assumed the worst of everyone, even the Doctor at first. Now you assume the best._ "

Alice groaned. "Give me some useful advice, Cat, or begone!"

" _But I do so enjoy our discussions. After all, you_ _can only hear me when your mind has been unsettled. But if your desire is to resettle it, perhaps I might suggest a visit to the Dodo?_ "

"Which one, the ones recovering from being enslaved by the Hatter and his friends, or the one who runs the meaningless Caucus-races? No, those won't help me in the slightest. I want to know where to go from here."

" _Well I believe I put it best some time ago in this manner: as knowing where you're going is preferable to being lost, ASK._ " said the Cat, before fading away as he so often did. Once again Alice was forced by habit to groan at him, for being so helpful and unhelpful all at the same time.

"He certainly _looks_ better than he used to," she remarked to herself sometime after his departure, "back when I was mad and lonely. There is some more meat on his bones; I wonder if that's why he stays around much less often, as there's more reason a predator might want him? Oh, but there I go, making sense of nonsense like I'm a child again. I'd better find something useful to make of this excursion to Wonderland, or else he and I both shall be much worse off for it!"

And so she set off into the jungle, holding up her skirt with fasteners Wonderland usually gave her. She once again thanked her imagination for the awfully convenient addition, especially considering the weight she would otherwise be either dragging through marshland or hefting with her hands.

That was another change Wonderland had undergone since her situation improved. In addition to the Cheshire Cat looking less bony, the Gryphons growing big and strong, and the Dodos getting their feathers back, Alice looks a lot less like she was stuck in her childhood. She now wore an outfit similar to the grown-up dresses she wore in the waking world, the only differences being the lack of a bonnet, the symbols on her dress' pockets and her familiar omega necklace.

Her outfit was, of course, completely unsuited for fighting. Luckily for her, there were no battles to be fought anymore. Within her mind, the manias and phobias that used to threaten her life have been reduced to mere annoyances, barely capable of insulting her much less hurting her. Wonderland reflected the changes quite nicely: The White Queen now held more power than the Red, and the presence of her soldiers was met with love rather than fear. There were disagreements here and there, but that's where Alice came in: the voice of reason in the unreasonable world.

Essentially, with Alice playing that part, Wonderland had returned to being the paradise of her youthful years, rather than the hell of those years spent alternating between madness and poverty. That said, back then it still frustrated her, and it still did as she soon found out:

"Hurry, Alice! There's no time to waste!" exclaimed the White Rabbit as he bounded across the path. Out of habit, Alice turned to follow him through a thin passageway between the trees...

...and once through, she discovered a clearing with a large amount of creatures, lining up before a finely-dressed Dodo.

"Wonderland still confuses me. I specifically say I can't find any usefulness in the Dodo, and I find myself before him nonetheless!" Alice exclaimed. "Oh well, I guess one can never truly know their own thoughts."

"The clock's ticking down, Alice. Your money's running out." said the jittering White Rabbit. "We need a decision and we need it quickly!"

Alice sighed in frustration and resignation. Just then, the Dodo started speaking, or rather shouting as he threw leaves, paper shreds and small bits of wood into the crowd.

"Step right up! Take your pick! In the great and wonderful Caucus-races, it doesn't matter if you win or lose, for everyone wins and everyone loses! What matters here is participation! All you have to do is take a card, to say what you run for!"

This drew Alice's attention to the debris the Dodo was throwing. She stepped forward to get a closer look, and found each little piece had crude writing on it. One leaf she examined, before handing it off to a lizard, read _Governess._

Another read _Cook,_ another _Secretary to feminine political activist (_ which went to the White Rabbit, who said "combine passion with payment!" _),_ another read _Cleaner,_ another read _Sock factory worker_.

"These are all possibilities for employment," she mused aloud, "that I appear to be considering. And I don't appear to be considering them in any productive manner."

"I'm fully aware of that possibility," said the Dodo, taking notice of Alice. "So may I suggest you run for it?"

He then handed an incredulous Alice a piece of wood with _Decision maker_ written on it. "My own thoughts are mocking me!" she groaned.

Whether or not the Dodo heard that, he didn't give any hint. Instead, he announced to all the participants: "If every feather, fin and claw has a card, then we're ready to begin! We race around the edge of the table until something happens!"

"And where would this 'table' be? I'm not really dressed for running, so its best I stay away."

"Oh, but everything's on the table!"

The Dodo's statement confused Alice for a second...until a massive pig scratched at the forest floor in anticipation of the race, pushing the dirt aside to reveal wood underneath! They really were on a table, Alice realized, a giant one covered in forest!

Alice didn't even have a chance to complain about the ever-confusing nature of Wonderland before the White Rabbit grabbed her wrist and dragged her along, towards the edge of a cliff (table-edge, Alice reminded herself) overlooking an abyss swirling with a color that resembled her flat's walls. There, several other animals were already waiting (or already running – Caucus-races started whenever and ended whenever). Without another word, he scurried off.

This left Alice without an idea of what to do next. So she decided to talk to herself: "I told them I can't run in this dress, and still they're forcing me to run. Here I thought I was finally getting this side of me under control...but if I'm losing control now, then why? Was I ever in control in the first place? And if-"

"AAAH! SERPENT!"

The sudden exclamation interrupted Alice's soliloquy, nearly causing her to fall off the cliff. She turned around with a jerk to see that one of the contestants in the Caucus-race, a pigeon, had stopped in its tracks and was staring at her.

As she looked in confusion, the pigeon nervously backed away and again exclaimed "SERPENT!"

"Serpent? Where?" Alice asked, looking around her feet. Finding none, she looked back at the pigeon...

...to find it now had company: a much larger, more brilliantly-colored pigeon.

"Is this the serpent who's threatened you, my love?"

"Yes. It wants our eggs, I'm sure of it!"

It was then Alice realized that they were talking about _her_. She tried to say: "Wait, I'm not a serpent," but never got the chance. The larger pigeon flapped its wings and rushed at her, pecking her with a beak the size of her hand and beating her with wings almost as big as she was.

Scraps of cloth and drops of blood flew everywhere as the pigeon continued its relentless assault. Alice struggled in vain to push it away. She quickly gave up, and turned to run...

...where the pigeon's claws threw her over the side of the cliff! Alice screamed as she tumbled down into a dark, deep void that increasingly grew brown. Alice shut her eyes and braced for a collision – any kind of collision, not knowing whether to fear falling for eternity or being flattened against something hard.

With a resounding crack, she landed on one of her chairs, snapping it in two.

She was back in her apartment, there was no vegetation in sight, and she had no injury of any kind save the bruises from flinging herself at her furniture.

She had to sit a moment to recover her breath (on her bed, as she'd just broken her chair) and process what had just happened within her mind.

"Why did those pigeons think I was a serpent?" she asked herself, among other questions. But in the end, she decided to leave those questions unanswered.

"Staying here with no one but my thoughts will get nothing accomplished. I need to start looking for a job right now."

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"Oh, Toby! You're home at last. I was beginning to worry; you know unsavory types abound on the streets lately. Did you get rid of that thief Alice, like you said you would?"

Mrs. Russel's greeting went completely unheeded by her husband, who moved into the house with a focused step, and a singe overriding purpose. He didn't even remove his outer clothes, as he was accustomed to doing when he re-entered his house.

As she was busy with writing a letter to a friend, she paid no notice. But when several minutes went by without a single affectionate gesture, she started to get worried. So she wandered throughout the house to find him – if something was the matter, she should be a dutiful wife and brighten his day.

That was what a lifetime of being raised in this life has taught her – duty. She doesn't care about what those reformers say women should want. According to them, she's little more than a glorified servant, but what they don't understand is that's all a woman should ever want to be – subservient to man. Besides, sharing all those tender moments with Toby make it all worth her while.

She heard some slight sounds coming from their dressing-room, so that's where she looked. What she saw there shook that dutiful foundation of hers to her core.

Toby was holding a large sack, and was throwing all of the jewels and valuables he had given her over the years into it. She gasped out loud, but his stony face didn't turn towards her at all.

She attempted to draw his attention by asking "Toby, what on earth are you doing?" but it was of no use. It was as though he were in a trance, unable to see or hear her.

"Is the store in trouble? Do you have some debts that need paying? Please, if there's something wrong then let me help you," she said again. Still no response.

But then, after he had cleaned out the valuables like a common burglar, he finally turned towards her; understandable, as she was standing in the only exit from the room. What he did next, however, was shocking beyond all measure:

He ripped her necklace off, stuffed it into his bag, then slammed her face against the wall multiple times.

She fell to the ground, her face a bloody mess, too stunned to protest as her loving husband forcefully removed the rings from her fingers.

Was this the man who promised her a comfortable and pleasant life? Was this the man who pleaded with her father for the privilege of marrying her? Was this the man who swore to stay with her in sickness and health, till Death do they part? She could not believe it so, so she asked once more: "What has gotten into you? This isn't like you!"

Finally, he offered a word of explanation:

"I'm torching everything and starting over. Moving on to find a better life. I've already discharged the servant. Now I'm discharging you, you harpy."

She remembered little more, as she chose that moment to faint.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Paternoster Row seems like any other street in London at first. But at the address with the number 13 on that street, there lives a very peculiar woman. She is a servant of another woman, one of greater peculiarity still. It's telling about a person when the least peculiar thing about her was her skin – tough like leather, and green in colour.

Many years ago, those living on the street objected to the woman setting up residence on their street. She silenced their criticisms with an animal hiss, and several venomous insults. For a while, this woman never went anywhere without her mysterious 'Doctor' present to instruct her on proper human behavior. As such, rumors persisted even after the woman learned to control her behavior, and started wearing a veil to limit unwanted discussion about her disfigurement.

But as vicious as some of the rumors get, none of them are close to capturing the truth about Madame Vastra. In truth, she is not even human, but a member of the ancient species _Homo Reptilia_. She was born more than 65 million years before any human, but went to sleep along with the rest of her people when a large planetoid seemed to hurtle towards her home planet, promising catastrophe. She would awake to find that the planetoid had settled into orbit and become a moon, Humans had replaced the so-called Silurians as the dominant species, and some of those humans had accidentally killed all of her friends and family expanding their underground transportation networks. She had declared a one-woman war of vengeance against humanity, but didn't get very far before she was persuaded to abandon her crusade by the Doctor.

After some convincing, she decided to live out the remainder of her days among the filthy apes, and in peace with them. This was a long process. She was noted by her neighbors to have calmed her anti-human rhetoric the most after employing a maid named Jenny Flint, leading to scandalous accusations...all of which were summarily ignored by the authorities.

This was because Vastra had made herself indispensable to the policemen of London as the 'veiled detective'. After several aborted career paths, such as a sideshow attraction in the theatre of Henry Gordon Jago, Vastra found her true calling in private investigation. She had a keen eye for detail, along with a wealth of knowledge from a civilization far more advanced than England in Victoria's reign. This has resulted in her, and Jenny on occasion, solving crimes and conspiracies that left the police stumped.

As such the cry of "Madame, there's a bobby at the door!" became a common phrase heard within Vastra's household, usually followed by a curt "Send them in, Jenny."

On one occasion, upon being seated opposite from her in the greenhouse-like sitting room, with several strange and exotic plants, the conversation between Vastra and the police turned to the subject of Toby Russel.

"Around 2 hours ago," the policeman described, "a fire broke out in Mr. Russel's book store on High Street, burning most of the contents. Fortunately the fire was contained before it spread to the other buildings. We would have left this to our own resources had one detail eluded us: Minutes before I was sent to you, A servant in Mr. Russel's household told us that, uh...two-and-a-half hours ago, her master had brutally attacked his wife, and left with whatever valuables he could carry. He then left saying he would be 'torching everything and starting over'."

"And you want my assistance in identifying and tracking down the culprit? To minimize the danger that said culprit poses to society?"

"Yes, Mr. Russel has proven to be extremely dangerous, and we need him found as soon as possible."

"I'm not speaking of Russel."

The policeman narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"When I speak of the culprit, I do not refer to Mr. Russel. What evidence you have does point to Mr. Russel being the burglar, beater, and arsonist, but he might not be the true culprit even if that's the case."

"I'm afraid I do not follow your logic, Miss Vastra."

"That is unnecessary. What is necessary is that you ask the following question of the witnesses to Mr. Russel's erratic behavior:"

She leaned forward for emphasis, then asked: "Has Mr. Russel recently been in contact with a woman known as Alice?"

* * *

Thanks to those old fans who loved the first one so much and are willing to give this sequel a chance!

After all, I intend for this to be a little different than The Angel of Madness. There will be a slower buildup, more intrigue than outright action...and maybe even a little romance?


	2. The Static Teapot

Disclaimer: I own neither American McGee's Alice (EA) or Doctor Who (BBC)

Sorry this took so long – I vastly overestimated my ability to overcome writer's block while also worrying about college papers.

Also, there are some characters based off of real-life counterparts who had different names and professions in the game (Clergyman Henry Liddell became Professor Arthur Liddell, for example), so I'm using that for artistic liberties.

* * *

Chapter 2: The Static Teapot.

* * *

She leaned forward for emphasis, then asked: "Has Mr. Russell recently been in contact with a woman known as Alice?"

The policeman drew back in confusion. "Alice...why that name in particular?"

"Because it is the difference between this being an isolated incident, and a symptom of a great calamity."

"I...I don't follow."

"That's because you haven't worked with me on my last few cases. But even if you did I cannot guarantee you would notice the pattern."

The veiled detective clapped her hands together once, drawing the attention of her maid. "Jenny," she instructed, "Would you kindly gather the notes from those cases?"

"Of course, Madame."

And with that, Jenny exited the room. She returned less than a minute later, with scraps of paper. As she laid them on the low table, the policeman looked at them...or at least tried to, but could only tilt his head in confusion at the unintelligible scrawls.

"I don't write in English unless it's for communication." explained Vastra as she gathered the notes into her hands. "Allow me to translate:'

'Last year the social reformist Andrew Rucastle was killed in a confrontation with the police, provoked by an argument over the treatment of a criminal. The day before, he had dismissed his secretary Alice because of chronic absence.'

'A few months after that, a scandal involved the manager of the Royal Opera House, Trenton Haymitch. His backstage assistant Alice complained about working conditions and resigned, and the very next day he was found destroying costumes and instruments. The poor wretch was dragged to the asylum screaming.'

'Again, a month later, Alice turns up as the maid of Lord Oldsworth, but quickly resigns due to unwanted advances. A week later his wife turns up poisoned, by his own hand, and he was tried by the House of Lords and hanged.'

'Now I'm sure you can agree that a pattern has emerged, and there is some form of connection. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but thrice..."

As she spoke, Madame Vastra suddenly stood up.

"...is evidence!"

The policeman caught a glimpse of her true face as her veil fluttered from the sudden movement. His breath halted for a minute, but he quickly dismissed that feeling and went back to business. "Erm," he asked hesitantly, "so what should we do?"

"For now, there's not much we can do. I don't want to harass every woman in London with the name Alice, that would be a waste of time and effort. I do, however, want to know who might know Mr. Russell's business. That might tell us if Alice is involved."

"Er, his servant is in the station, and his wife is recovering in hospital. Ask, and I'll take you to them."

"Thank you. And while you arrange that...I suppose I can busy myself with tracking the wayward Mr. Russell. I'll visit the crime scene presently."

The policeman thanked her and left, looking all too pleased to be freed from her presence. Vastra folded her notes and placed them within a pocket, and lifted her veil.

"The game is afoot, my dear. Get your walking shoes on."

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

The morning began like any other. Alice woke to the sound of voices outside her window – she liked to keep it open on some late summer nights. The crisp night air coming up against her warm bedsheets reminded her of being embraced by her Wonderland friends, and helped her sleep. It is a peculiar habit, and one that could not be sustained by living anywhere lower than the seventh floor of a tall building, which fortunately she did (even then, she had to disguise her open window with a thin painted sheet to discourage the wandering burglar) but now that the Red Queen wasn't as much of a threat it was easier for her to live with her quirks rather than fight them.

She got up, dressed, ate some toast with cheese and a handful of dried fruit, and drank a small cup of tea, much like she did every other morning. She was tempted to dip into one of the jars of preserves she had on her shelf, but the urgency of the day enabled her to resist. Instead, she put on her bonnet and boots, grabbed her purse and shawl, and walked outside.

Her destination that day, since she had no more employment, was to the nearby office where they printed _The Wool Rag_. As usual it was tough to navigate through the throngs of people walking to and fro, but she made it eventually.

For the most part the office looked the same as it usually did, save a new person at the front trying to sell a newspaper. Her target.

"Pardon me," she said as she approached him, "is it twopence as usual?"

"Sure is, ma'am."

She counted out two pennies, and received a small bundle of paper. She turned through the pages, ignoring all the things that didn't matter to her, like the latest acts of parliament or the latest sensational crime, or even all the advertisements for all the things she couldn't afford. After a few seconds of this, however, she found what she was looking for: the Situations Vacant page.

"Let us see what we have..." she muttered under her breath. She scanned the page, looking for whatever positions she might qualify for. It was a chore, and required concentration...

...concentration which was suddenly broken when a commotion broke out from inside the nearby office. Shouting and banging reverberated from within the building, and everyone outside took notice. Alice's breath accelerated as her flight instincts began to kick in. After all, that sudden noise probably meant that there was some form of violence or hallucination on the other side of the door.

Her suspicions were partially confirmed when the door opened and a thin plume of smoke came out. This was quickly followed by a large bronze teapot being thrown out onto the street, followed by a strange device consisting of two circular plates at perpendicular angles to each other, one black and one gold with a crank in the middle. Finally a man with light hair and a thin moustache left the building, in a peach colored suit spattered with water.

"I expect you to pay for all the damages!" came a voice from inside the office.

The man paid no heed, and instead picked up the teapot and circular device, cradling them as if they were delicate china. Only then did he realize he was being spoken to. "Wait, what did you say? Oh, never mind, I need to go and fix these back up. Figure out what went wrong."

"And when you do, please take it somewhere else!" With that, the door slammed shut.

Realization finally caught up with the man, and his eyes widened. "Oh, my sincerest apologies! Send the bill in the post!" He waited for a response for almost a minute, before gathering his things and walking away.

Under normal circumstances, Alice would have just turned back to her newspaper, but she had what Dr. Wilson called a 'hero complex', one that has gotten her in trouble multiple times. Most recently, in fact, was the instance that got her dismissed from Mr. Russell's employ. But bad things happened when she ignored the plights of others, like Bumby's children, which made it even harder to ignore someone in trouble. So, she folded her newspaper and walked up to the young man.

"Is everything all right?" she asked, not knowing whether or not she'd regret it.

"It depends on what you mean by all right. It's only a stain, and nothing's broken that cannot be fixed...but my chances at selling my wonderful electricity-powered teapot have just taken a mighty blow."

At the word 'electricity,' memories of Rutledge resurfaced for Alice. "What?" she asked nervously.

"That's what this wheel's for." said the man, pointing to the second part of his arrangement. "You turn it to produce static electricity, and it in turn produces heat. It's incredibly portable and anyone can do it! Surely it's amazing!"

But Alice wasn't amazed – she was more worried about the discoloration of the street, as it seemed to turn green. Furthermore, she could swear that she saw some furry appendage sticking out of the teapot's lid... It took her a while to process what he said, and she responded as best she could: "I don't know..."

"You don't know? Where did I go wrong then, if you cannot see the future as it unfolds?"

"I'm just worried about the poor Dormouse," she blurted out. And as soon as she realized she did, she gasped in shock.

"Dormouse? I don't follow..." he said, and Alice's worst fears were confirmed. She had just shared with a total stranger that she was hallucinating. All of the progress she had made through all those years, with the help of Dodgson and the Doctor, was all about to go to waste. She stepped backwards, and prepared to escape...

...when he suddenly said: "Wait a second...dormouse...is that from Lewis Carroll's book?"

Instantly Alice calmed down. Lewis Carroll was Dodgson's pen name, the one he used to publish the stories he wrote...based on her hallucinations! After he became her benefactor, he published two books titled _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,_ and _Through the Looking Glass (and what Alice found there)_ , which were wild successes. He even gave her a portion of his profits to help buy her flat, and another for her to save for a rainy day.

She had nothing to fear, she realized; he simply thought she was making a joke based on the book. For all she knew, he had no idea she was in fact Lewis Carroll's muse, let alone hallucinating at that very moment.

Of course, all the stress that built up over that moment had to go somewhere. So, in spite of herself, she laughed a nervous laugh. It started off restrained, and she had practice restraining herself. But when the stranger decided to join in the laughter, it turned into a raucous, hearty laugh, the likes of which she hadn't experienced since her childhood.

"HA Ha hahahahaha! Oh dear, I was worried for a second there...I thought you wouldn't get the reference."

"No, I understand, the dormouse in the teapot...and you needn't worry about it, that's why this component has two wheels! This one is the static electricity generator, and the other is the electrically-powered heating element that boils the water within the teapot. It's properly shielded so the user won't get shocked. I was at the newspaper today so as to try and get someone to advertise it. The artist turned disagreeable when it malfunctioned during its demonstration, and sprayed hot water all over...but I worry he was prejudiced against it before even that!"

"I can understand why. Not that long ago something like that would have been called witchcraft!"

"But picture it: Even something as simple as a teapot, freed from the reliance on a gas stove; if this is possible, imagine what else might follow? At least I think it's genius!"

"From what I've observed, genius isn't really called genius unless it has social graces to back it up. Then it's called madness."

"Oh you don't think the man who invented the steam engine was mad, do you? Or the sewer systems that cleaned up our streets? Or the man who designed the Crystal Palace?"

"I don't know. I've never met them – for all I know, they are very mad, and their fame is the only reason people tolerate them!"

"Well then I'd better get famous fast!"

They laughed again.

…...

…...

The conversation continued as they walked down the street together. Alice only realized that fact, that she was having an enjoyable conversation with a total stranger, when they finally reached his destination: A small tinsmith shop with the words _Hargreaves' Metalwork and Other Oddities_ written on the window.

"Well, here we are," he said. "Assuming no customers, I should be able to get this teapot fixed up in no time."

Alice gave him a polite smile. "Well, I hope Mr. Hargreaves is more reasonable than that newspaper artist."

"I'm pretty sure a man would necessarily be more reasonable towards himself." He paused for Alice's benefit, and then continued: "Richard Hargreaves, at your service. And might I be so mad as to ask for your name?"

Alice was taken slightly off-guard by Richard's request, but not in an unpleasant way, especially given his pleasant conversation just minutes prior. So, she introduced herself: "Alice."

Richard smiled in surprise. "So you're an Alice. _The_ Alice, perhaps? Or is it just coincidence?"

Finally, Richard's pleasant demeanor threatened to push a boundary she wasn't quite ready for yet: revealing her traumatic history. "I would prefer to keep that to myself for now, if that's not too much of a bother."

Richard visibly realized his innocent question had the wrong outcome. He swallowed in embarrassment, and apologized. "But," he added, "You can't fault me for being curious, can you?"

"...I suppose not. Anyway, I have places to go today, and I can't stay around for much longer."

"That is a pity. Will I see you again, or..."

"Will my smile fade from your life like the Cheshire Cat? Is that what you were going to say?" she asked, prompting another quick giggle from both of them. "I don't know. But I'll say hello if I walk by here again."

"Thank you, and I hope to see you again soon, Alice."

"Until then, Richard." With that, Alice extended her hand for a friendly handshake...but at the last minute, she withdrew it, unsure if the situation really called for it. Instead, she waved, and left after he waved back.

Minutes later, reflecting on the conversation, she found herself worried. From his first impression she assumed Richard was creative, humorous, intelligent, and considerate of her desires and worries. And a series of coincidences ensured her first impression wasn't as bad as she first worried. But, as experience has taught her, first impressions don't always convey the truth. In the final analysis, she wasn't sure she wanted Richard as a friend.

"If it's too good to be true, as they say...perhaps I'd best put this conversation out of my mind."

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Scanning through the 'Situations Vacant' section, Alice found some things that would interest her. There were multiple openings for governesses and nannies, a couple of them with 'urgent' written somewhere in the advertisement. No openings for anything involving social reformers, which would have prevented another instance of being fired the way she was with Mr. Russell. She also had serious reservations about many of the servant positions open, after Lord Oldsworth, but if the other options fell through she couldn't be too picky.

Halfway through thinking about which positions suited her best, however, Alice realized she was missing one thing: References. She had an old letter of recommendation from Dodgson, and a couple of references from older employers, but for her to be completely honest with any potential employer (she was, after all, liable for for fraud if she didn't) she needed to obtain a reference from Toby Russell.

A difficult prospect to say the least.

She strolled over to the neighborhood of his bookstore, all the while thinking about how to go about this task. Perhaps she could ask a passersby to petition Mr. Russell on her behalf? Then came the question of how to convince Russell to provide a positive reference. She looked back on her time working for him; aside from the instance with the missing books (for which she was positive her motives would elicit sympathy) she couldn't think of any time when she was anything other than a model employee. She even found her employer quite compassionate, despite his arrogance at catering to the upper classes, on every day save her sacking.

She went through multiple different speeches for the eventual conversation she hoped to have, whether she talked to Mr. Russell himself or a proxy. Would it work if she emphasized she knew she did something wrong? Her thoughts raced all the way to the bookstore.

Once she got to the bookstore, however, her thoughts were all catastrophically upended.

She saw a small crowd gather around a pile of ashen wood and scattered bricks where Russell's bookstore used to be. Blackening touched the neighboring buildings as well, and workers were busy clearing that up. Carriages struggled to move around piles of debris that littered the street.

"What happened here?" she asked.

"Haven't you heard? Mr. Russell burned down his own bookstore, after robbing his own wife! Then he vanished without a trace! Happened last night, it did!"

If Alice were any more like a normal person, her immediate thoughts would have been related to how she could possibly get a reference now, how she could make do without it, what sort of jobs would accept her, or other such inquiries.

Alice, however, was not a normal person by any means. She had traumatic experiences in the past...relating to abuse and fire. Despite her best efforts the ruined house quite suddenly started to resemble her own, whose image was so suddenly burned into her own consciousness. Despite herself, the memory image of Toby Russell turned into the image of Doctor Bumby, raping and smothering her dear Lizzie. And once those unwanted images arrived, others started to change as well. Her breathing quickened and her body quaked, and London disappeared into the nightmare-scape of Wonderland.

Suddenly two large figures clad in black armor appeared out of the corner of her eyes and grabbed her by both sides. Their grip was unbreakable, as Alice's brief struggles quickly discovered. She was lifted off her feet, and carried away at breathtaking speed. A rumbling voice slid out of one of them: " **You need to come with us** _._ "

"No! Let me go!"

" **Not until you're safe. The White Queen commands it.** "

At the mention of the White Queen, Alice took another look at her 'captors'. Their armor, she noticed, wasn't naturally black – it was white armor scarred by fire. Armor cast to look like the side of a stone castle wall, with the tip of a tower styled into the helmet.

"...You mean this really is a rescue?" she asked, to which one of the Rooks nodded in the affirmative.

From an outsider's perspective, it looked like this strange woman was skipping away backwards with her arms outstretched. Curious sight, to be sure, but one that was soon eclipsed by another strange sight:

The Veiled Detective, kneeling at the ruined building like a mourner...if mourners carried magnifying lenses.

"The conflagration's point of origin is obvious," she mumbled to herself, "as is where it spread and what pieces of debris fell first. But, I wonder..."

Faster than the human eye could follow, Vastra extended her long tongue out through the debris. After a few rounds of this she stopped, spit the taste of ashes out of her mouth, and moved some pieces aside to reveal some items that hadn't perished in the blaze.

Among them was a half-burned employment contract signed with the name of _Alice..._ and what looked like an L, before the signature was cut off by burn marks. Same with the address – not even the number was visible.

Vastra smiled. "It's not much, but it supports my hypothesis. Amazing what humans will miss when they neglect simple patterns."

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

The White Queen's court was always known for a simultaneous abundance of, and lack of, color. On one level, everything seemed determined to conform to a very strict code of decorum, that is to say, straight lines of black-and-white marble. But at the same time, the whole castle was like one big garden inside and out. The columns were made of trees, vines crept in and out of the walls, and flowers greeted everyone who walked in and out of a door.

Of course, most of these plants had some white or black features that allowed them to blend in with the regular patterns of the walls and floors. Some could even change colors. But most of the greens and browns and other colors appeared only if one were to look above or below eye level. Above is where the trees spread their canopy under a glass roof, greeting a beautiful blue sky. Below is where one found grasses, springing up through the gaps between the floor's squares.

Essentially, where the Queen of Hearts designed her castle around cards and body parts, the White Queen themed hers around chess and plants.

And to the varied denizens who wandered through its halls, it was much more preferable. And they were another reason the court was so colorful – unlike the knights, rooks, bishops and others, they were not required to wear all-white armor. They came looking as they pleased, acting as they pleased, with no objection unless it hurt another; yet another reason all of Wonderland preferred the White Queen to the Red.

Yet despite their love for her, they held an even greater love for Alice. So there was some concern when a pair of hulking Rooks came through the doors dragging Alice backwards.

"Is that Alice?" they asked each other, as well as "Did she do something wrong?", "How could she do wrong by herself?" and "How could she _not_ do wrong by herself?"

The doors to the outside closed, and the Rooks released Alice, finally allowing her to turn around and stretch, her arms and legs sore from all the dragging. The Rooks didn't leave her side, though. The murmuring around her didn't stop, only changed to more general "what's going on?" sorts of questions...

...but once a little lamb entered the courtyard, all conversation ceased.

Alice regarded it with confusion, wondering what could be so important about such a common animal, until the Rooks bowed before it.

"Your Majesty," she said with a curtsy.

Sure enough, before her very eyes the lamb's wool knitted itself into an elegant gown, as the lamb itself stood up and tucked in its limbs...for them to reemerge as the humanoid limbs of the White Queen. Once the transformation was complete, the resulting woman greatly resembled Alice's departed mother, Lydia.

"It's wonderful to see you again, Alice. We hope your journey wasn't too unpleasant." she spoke, with stern voice and a royal 'we', some of the few behaviors that signified her royalty.

"It was, actually."

The Queen frowned. "We're sorry, Alice. But we and you can both agree that the place you were taken from was considerably more unpleasant, can we? The sight of another fire..."

Alice reluctantly nodded. "And right where I was hoping to get references for my next situation, as well."

"From Russel? Nonsense, he would never help us. His kind gives only malice to those who ask for pity! You should've left him alone!" shouted a random voice from the crowd. All attention turned towards its source, a ferret in a beggar's outfit.

The White Queen started fumbling with her wooly gown. "Now now, is that the way to treat our guest? By saying their ideas are wrong?"

She removed her hands from her gown, a handful of wool in each. She then pulled a branch off a nearby tree and used it as a spindle with which to turn that wool into a ball of yarn, a process that took all of four seconds. As soon as she was finished she pulled off another branch, and spent another four seconds knitting that yarn into a pair of tiny mittens. Her display finished, she returned the branches to their tree and handed the mittens to the rude ferret.

As she did so, she said: "Alice is a benefactor, with a kind heart and a righteous passion. But only because she was given a chance to be that way. What's wrong with offering that chance to others, regardless of whether or not they take it?"

"...Nothing at all, your Majesty!" said the ferret as he took the mittens, and put them on his nose and tail. It bounded off to the applause of the courtiers, and a self-congratulatory grin from the White Queen.

"You never know when to stop, do you?" asked Alice, to which the Queen responded with a giddy "Not at all!"

The Queen turned around, and said "Come, Alice. We have something you may wish to see."

Alice followed her inside the castle, reasoning that it might lead her to some new idea she hadn't considered before. The White Queen turned the corner, and said:

"Oh, and do watch your step."

Alice didn't.

….,,,,,,,,...

The instant she turned the corner, she stepped onto empty air, and fell face-first onto the floor of a small boat, suspended in the air by a large balloon shaped like a bishop's hat, with the White Queen seated at the prow. When Alice got up and looked about, she noticed another detail: they were not inside the castle she had just entered. They were outside, in the instant it had taken her to recover.

"What's all this about?" Alice asked as she seated herself next to the White Queen, who had busied herself with more knitting. And as the balloon-boat sailed under its own power through a chess-themed orchard with an upside down river flowing above, the White Queen answered:

"Alice, by all right this is your world. You create it, and it creates you. You have saved it, and yourself, from total oblivion so many times. Yet, you never come to this world as a ruler. As visitor, and occasionally saviour, but never ruler."

"That's what you're here for." said Alice, who grabbed a pair of knitting needles off the floor of the boat.

The White Queen gave a stern nod. "Every day we strive to be worthy of the burden you placed upon us. The citizens appreciate our efforts, but it isn't always easy. Whenever you're troubled, Wonderland is troubled, and vice versa. We can keep things as orderly and peaceful as possible on this side, but not always."

The ship turned upside down to meet the river, but Alice didn't feel the change in gravity at all. Even when the river went over a fall, and the ship went over it to the other side: back inside the castle, where the river flowed to the side of a great hall.

The Queen continued: "Now don't believe that we intend to blame you. The troubles you face are not of your design. The most you can take credit for is trusting the wrong people, the sort who don't reveal their true nature _until_ they are given trust. But as you have seen, it's enough to make some long for the days before you could trust people again. When you were suspicious, and reserved, and cared for no one but yourself."

"In other words, when I was alone in poverty and misery." she said, as she absentmindedly twirled the knitting needles in her hands.

"The appeal is as surprising to us as it is to you. But there is an appeal to knowing that you were leading a life separate and safe from those who would hurt and take advantage of you, instead of seeking them out in the vain hope they might take pity on you. Shocking as it may be, there are those who believe you would have been better off had you never met the Doctor."

"If I'd never met the Doctor, I would have been killed by a living statue!"

"Then you would have been put out of your misery." the Queen retorted with obvious discomfort. Additional discomfort arrived when the ship suddenly jumped out of the water, and exited through a diamond-shaped window at the end of the hall.

The conversation continued as the ship sailed through the canopy, and bread-and-butterflies flitted around them. Alice asked: "Were these the sort of creatures who were happy when the Red Queen ruled as you did?"

"Oh no, nobody wished that! Madness and death are horrible, no one wishes for that! At least not these days. The Doctor taught us that there are things worth living for, and Dodgson helped us learn how to live with the pretense of sanity"

"Gifts only learned because we trusted them. And yet they cry for the days before I could trust?"

"True, so true. The people of Wonderland, on some level, are confused, and don't know what they want. That's why-"

"Your Majesty, you're late! The fight's already begun!" called out a voice from below. Before Alice could ask 'what fight?', the White Queen turned her head, and Alice followed. Her question was answered quite thoroughly.

A clearing appeared in the grove, with grasses once again lining the borders of the black-and-white chessboard squares. A throng of animals stood behind a ring of Pawns, Rooks, Bishops, and Knights, leaving a circular area completely clear, save for a pair of large beasts wearing large capes and circling each other: a Lion and a Unicorn.

"What's all this about?" asked Alice.

"They're fighting for the crown," said the White Queen in response. "Each claims to know what is best for you and for Wonderland, but their visions are complete opposites, with no possibility of compromise."

"But don't you-"

The White Queen interrupted "we send our soldiers as peacekeepers. That doesn't mean we rule all of Wonderland. Nor do we intend to. And since you refused the crown, they want it."

Just then, the Lion and the Unicorn threw off their capes, and charged at each other. The Unicorn lowered its horn to impale the Lion, but he jumped over the horn and latched onto his opponent's back. The Unicorn jumped and kicked while the Lion scratched and bit, but half a minute passed before the Lion was finally throw off.

Even though he landed on his feet, the Lion was stunned, and the Unicorn took advantage of this to spin around and kick him with its back legs. It knocked him back, but the Lion was up and roaring before the Unicorn could do it again.

He began to charge again, but the Unicorn whinnied and raised its head multiple times, signaling it wouldn't be fooled by the same trick twice. The Lion couldn't stop his charge in time, and the massive horn cut a scar across his face. The Lion roared, and batted the Unicorn's face with his paw, leaving several scratches.

The battle went on for a while. With each blow, Alice grimaced. It had been many years since she'd seen an actual fight in Wonderland, and she had almost forgotten how brutal they can get. Then, she asked: "Which visions are they fighting for? Which one stands for trusting others, and which against?"

The White Queen stammered for a second, before she admitted (with a quite literal sheepish expression) "...To be honest, We're not sure ourselves. This has been going on for some time, and we must have forgotten!"

Alice groaned, and leaned over the side, still not letting go of the needles she was playing with. "Is there any way I could ask them myself?"

The White Queen gasped in inspiration, and leaned over the side herself: "Knight!" she called out, "call for a refreshment break! Alice wishes to speak with them!"

"Yes ma'am!" called a voice from below. "Ten minutes for refreshments! Bring out the white and brown bread!"

Upon hearing this, the combatants separated, and so did the crowd. Soldiers brought out loaves of white and brown bread, which they cut with very sharp-looking knives (except they used the flat end of the knives to cut). The Bishops also pulled off their hats, revealing them to be full of butter. The combatants got first pick, then the soldiers passed the bread to the crowd.

An unfortunate side effect of this was that the nice, open circle that marked the fighting arena was filled with animals of all shapes and sizes, and there didn't seem to be a nice open spot for a flying boat to land. So Alice scanned the courtyard, leaning over one side and another, looking for a good spot.

"Hmm," she mused to herself as she walked to the front of the ship, "maybe we could land over – whoops!"

Suddenly, Alice stepped on a loose ball of yarn the White Queen was using for knitting, and stumbled. She caught herself on one of the tethers tying the boat to its large balloon. She needed both hands to catch herself, however, and she dropped the knitting needles. She watched their descent as they fell through a gap in the treetops...

...and landed on top of some drums with a resounding ' _boom_ '.

"Wait, what?" said some voices below, "is it time to start the drums already?"

"I thought they still had some more fight in them!"

"I thought they were supposed to have some plum cake first!"

"Oh well, that was the signal, so we'd better start."

And with that, several Pawns grabbed drums of all sorts, and got in a line. Alice didn't have a chance to inform them of their mistake before they started. A cacophony of loud, booming sounds echoed throughout the courtyard, scaring away all the animals. The Lion and the Unicorn stopped everything they were doing, and tried to shout some complaints at the drummers, most likely involving plum cake – but Alice couldn't hear them over the drums, and the drummers likely didn't either. They just marched towards the two mighty animals.

The Lion and the Unicorn hung their heads in defeat, grabbed their capes, and walked off with the drummers behind them. Minutes later they were out of sight, and the drums finally stopped.

"And so it goes again." said the White Queen wistfully. "They can never finish their fighting before the drums start, so the throne of Wonderland remains unclaimed. They'll be at it again soon, we guarantee you. Maybe you can ask them your questions then."

Alice sighed in frustration as the ship finally landed in the now empty (save for soldiers) courtyard. "Until then, I suppose Wonderland remains aimless...as do I?" she asked.

"...We're afraid so." said the White Queen.

The two disembarked, and stepped onto the paved surface, careful to avoid any blood. They were silent for a minute, absorbed in thought.

Eventually, Alice broke the silence: "Well, I don't like being aimless. The longer it lasts, the more likely I will be forced back onto the streets. And if I can't find a direction on my own...I need to find someone who can help me."

"An excellent idea! The hall of recollections might tell of such a person!"

The White Queen clapped her hands and exclaimed, "Knight! To us!"

* * *

Again, I'm sorry I kept you waiting for almost a year! The demands of my final years at college have been heavy on me!

But with any luck, I'll get another chapter out, and we'll see if Alice can't pull her life back together!


	3. Friends and Enemies

Disclaimer: American McGee and EA owns the Alice games, and BBC owns Doctor Who.

* * *

Chapter 3: Friends and Enemies

* * *

The White Queen clapped her hands and exclaimed, "Knight! To us!"

Alice turned towards the distant clopping of hooves and ringing of bells, and saw a brilliant white horse galloping towards her, carrying an armored humanoid figure wearing a horsehead helmet, and carrying a lance and shield. Bouncing against the horse's sides were a sword, a mace, a flyswatter, a shovel, a poker, some brushes, and some bellows.

Alice took multiple steps backwards and to the side, in anticipation of what was coming.

Sure enough, when the horse abruptly stopped, the bell on its forehead jingled intensely...and the rider was catapulted forward, and he landed helmet-first on the paved stone.

"Oh dear, not this again." moaned the White Queen.

"Why so surprised?" asked Alice. "He did it all the time!"

"Yes, but he told us he'd found a way to stop it from happening."

"That's right, Your Majesty!" said the muffled voice of the White Knight as he pulled himself up, took off his helmet, and stood at attention before his monarch. "I attached a harness to myself for that very reason! See, it's right there on my waist! It's my own invention, you know!"

The White Queen looked at the Knight's waist, and sure enough there was an elaborate belt with rings in it. "Why wasn't it connected to your saddle?"

"I was supposed to connect it to my saddle? Maybe that's why it didn't work!" the White Knight exclaimed in shock and embarrassment.

Meanwhile, Alice was struck by how _normal_ the White Knight's face looked, with his light hair and thin moustache, and his relative lack of exaggerated features compared to the rest of Wonderland. Cheshire Cat had his smile, White Rabbit had his ears, the Mad Hatter had his nose, even the White Queen had her thick, woolly hairdo, but the White Knight had virtually nothing distinctive. Which, admittedly, was distinctive in its own way.

"Oh, never mind," said the White Queen, snapping Alice out of her reverie. "Alice wants to go to the hall of recollections, and you are to guide her there."

"Right away, Your Majesty!" the White Knight said with a bow. He then walked towards his horse, and Alice followed suit...

...but when she put her hand on the horse, and nothing happened, she asked: "Aren't you going to lift me up? It's a little hard to climb in this dress."

"Oh we're not traveling by horse. I've got something a little faster: These!"

The White Knight raised his arms, which were holding a pair of bellows with the words _SQUEEZE ME_ written on them in fancy lettering. "It's my own invention! You point the nozzle away from your destination, and-WHOOOOAAAAAGH!"

Suddenly, the White Knight launched himself up into the air! He hung in the air for several seconds, to the point where the White Queen hand to send up a woolly rope to bring him back down. He landed with a thud, and Alice rushed over to him. "Oh my goodness! Are you all right?"

"Rrr...yes," groaned the White Knight, "But I think these are a little too sensitive to use right now." He held up his bellows, which were smashed in the fall.

"...Perhaps the horse would be a better idea?"

"...Perhaps."

…...,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,...

Alice rode sidesaddle behind the White Knight as they trotted throughout the castle. They crossed narrow bridges over wide brooks, as well as wide bridges over narrow brooks. They rode beside walls and on them, and even trotted up some trees into the canopy. They occasionally had to stop when the White Knight inevitably fell off his saddle, but overall they kept a good pace all the way to their destination.

The Hall of Recollection was a great, marble recreation of her departed father's library, and yet it was filled with nothing at all flammable. The air was cool and damp. There was no fire in the fireplace, but beautiful plants where luminescent insects gathered. Where once there were chemicals and photographs, there were now glass ornaments and glass slides. Where once there were paper books, there were volumes of pure silver. And within these ornaments, slides, and volumes were layer upon layer of memories, painstakingly collected by Alice herself and organized by the White Queen's servants.

Leaving the horse outside, Alice and the White Knight entered and started to look around. The White Knight asked "So, what are you looking for, exactly?"

"I'm in need of assistance in finding a new situation. Is there someone who helped me in the past who could help me now?"

"Helpful persons? That's on the top shelf, I believe. Luckily, I have just the invention for the task." said the White Knight as he brandished his lance.

"How will that help?" Alice asked. In response, the White Knight fiddled with the tip, affixing what looked like a bayonet.

"Now, not only is this lance twice as deadly, but I can hook it onto the rings the caretaker affixed to the books, so I can lift them from the top shelf without using a ladder!"

Surprised at the ingenious concept, Alice looked at the top shelf...but then she asked: "What rings?"

"...What?" said the White Knight as he looked up, and also noticed the lack of rings. Once again, his face blushed in embarrassment, but this time it was tinged with a hint of frustration. "He promised me he'd put them on! I need to go have a word with him. In the meantime, there's a ladder over there."

So, the White Knight left Alice, to find the caretaker of the Hall of Recollections, while Alice awkwardly climbed up to the top shelf, and glanced over the golden lettering of the silvery volumes.

At last, she found her goal, a small volume labeled 'Helpful Persons'. As she pulled it off the shelf and returned to the floor, she noticed it was organized by alphabetically-arranged sections. Upon opening it, she found herself in the 'D' section.

The very first page she found herself on was labeled 'Dr... Who?' at which she giggled. "I never did learn his true name. He kept secrets from everyone, even himself, and yet he saved my life, and taught me how to trust others despite their flaws. He did horrible things in the name of stopping the Cybermen, and the Daleks, and the Weeping Angels. But he makes sure every action he takes served a greater good than himself. Of course, he's off somewhere in the past...or the future, perhaps; whichever it is, I can't ask him."

And so she flipped through the book, in reverse. So she came across names like Dr. Wilson, Dr. George, Dr. Bumby, Dodgson-

Wait, Dr. Bumby?

…..

She backtracked to a silvery page she passed over, and gazed in horror at the name of Dr. Angus Bumby, proprietor of Houndsditch Home for Wayward Youth. Accompanying the text were images of his glittering glasses, and the Venus key he stole from Lizzie's room and used as a hypnotic pendant.

She was aghast, and could only ask "...Why?" Nothing Bumby did had ever been to help her, but to help himself. He helped himself to Lizzie even when she refused his advances. He helped himself to the lamp he used to start the fire. He helped himself to those orphaned children, erasing their memories so they'd have no objection to becoming slaves for London's depraved. And he helped himself to her mind, becoming the destroyer and corrupter known as the Dollmaker, who would have turned her into a mindless, senseless 'doll' had she not recovered her memories in time.

"Why is he in here? Why would I ever consider him a helper after everything he's done? This is wrong, so unbelievably wrong...and yet, this is from my memories, my thoughts! What's wrong with my memories? What's wrong with my thoughts? What's wrong with Wonderland? What's wrong-"

"AAH! THE SERPENT!"

The sudden outburst snapped Alice out of her introspective inquiry, and she looked up to see the White Knight had returned, with a large Pigeon next to him.

"Serpent? Where?" asked the White Knight as he brandished his weapons. He and Alice were both shocked when the Pigeon's wing pointed towards Alice.

"No, you're wrong!" exclaimed Alice. "I'm not a serpent! I'm Alice!"

"LIAR!" the Pigeon shouted, and it fluffed up its feathers, growing to three times Alice's size. "You are one who will destroy our children! You are the one who will destroy everything! Die, serpent! DIE!"

Alice turned and ran, stumbling over her long dress, as the Pigeon lunged for her. Once again it beat her with its wings, and scratched at her with its claws. This time it went a little further: it grabbed her right arm in its beak, trying to rip it off. Only by grabbing a glass memory and smashing it across the bird's face was she able to break free.

The memory was of a riot that took place outside a women's suffrage campaign office, where Alice was applying for a job. It didn't work out because a mob broke in during the interview, and tore the office apart. Now that the memory was broken all over the Pigeon's face, representations of that mob surged into the Hall of Recollections and pushed everyone along in a tide of bodies that Alice struggled to break out of. She tried to steel herself, but she was knocked over...

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

….and she landed on the streets of London, as her hallucination ended and she left Wonderland.

"Watch where you're going!" exclaimed a man that stood over her prone form, and she gathered that her running into him broke her out of her delusion. She apologized, and pulled herself off of the ground.

She calmed her racing heart with deep breaths, and then took in her surroundings. She was in a lower-class neighborhood of London, filled with shoddy buildings, and few landmarks of merit except...

"...The Pawned Queen." And finally an idea surfaced.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"It's so wonderful of you to drop by, Alice. A shame your news couldn't be just as wonderful." said Madam Sharpe, Alice's former Nanny and proprietor of the Pawned Queen. Alice had stopped by for a chat, but Sharpe went the extra mile and put out tea and toast in what served as the brothel's 'lobby.'

Once she worked under the abusive pimp Jack Splatter, managing the Mangled Mermaid on his behalf, but now she owned her own business, running the new brothel for one reason and one reason only: to help those with nowhere else to go. And unlike the pimps who only said that to keep their girls in line, she actually meant it.

After all, she was the one who approached Alice with the idea of teaching the girls how to read and write, so they might have marketable skills with which to get more dignified (and legal) jobs. Until then, she kept the business afloat, such as it was.

"I agree," Alice replied, her voice steeped in regret. "I won't be able to help you and the girls out as much."

"An even bigger shame. I was just beginning to get used to the new you. You used to be a lot more shy and reserved, driving away any social interaction with venomous insults and sarcasm. You were off in your fantasy world most of the time, not caring at all about the problems of the real world. Killing off Dr. Bumby made things worse, as you had to focus entirely on your own survival. But now, now everything's different. You're doin' well for yourself most of the time, but you're always finding a way to try and make things better for others. You're willing to take chances on people, let them try to be better. God knows that's more than I was willing to give not too long ago."

"And yet here you are, with what's essentially both a brothel and a remedial school."

"You can thank your work with Rucastle for that." Madam Sharpe said as she poured herself some more tea. "I'm not sure I told you this before, but, when you went public about abuse at Rutledge's, the superintendent bought my silence. Turned out I saw things I shouldn't 'ave while I was visiting you."

"Really?" Alice said with a hint of surprise, as she sampled some toast. "Considering he went to prison anyway, along with his nephews..."

"True, it didn't work out like he thought it would. But I couldn't 'ave bought this place without it. And then I heard you and him went on to fight the good fight, 'till you were pulled back to Wonderland and Rucastle let you go. You pulled yourself out of the rookeries and made the world a better place, while I'd resigned myself to this life. I started thinkin' that maybe these girls deserved a second chance, and...well, you know the rest."

Madam Sharpe set down her tea, and gave Alice a sincere expression. "You've done so much for me and my girls. If there's anything I can do for you, simply ask."

"Well, right now..."

A slamming door interrupted the heartwarming moment, as a man in ragged clothes waddled into the room, and slurred out: "G'day! Does anyone know where I might find the owner of this fine establishment? I've been overworked and my tool needs cleaning!"

Madam Sharpe sighed, and excused herself. "I'm the manager. And if you want to be a customer, I need to go over the rules of the business with you. So, if you'll just follow me-"

The customer didn't seem to be fully aware of Madam Sharpe's words, as he interrupted her and asked "Is she available?"...while looking at Alice.

Both women felt their hearts skip a beat. Before Madam Sharpe could raise an objection, he lunged over and grabbed Alice by the arm. He leered and drooled as he pulled her up, and said "Awful heavy dress for a toffer, but I can't wait to pull every layer off of that sweet-"

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Alice sharply protested as she punched him right in the face. The drunkard sprawled out on the floor, fortunately letting Alice go in the process.

"...Ooh...you bitch!" he growled as he got up.

Madam Sharpe quickly put herself in between him and Alice. "You didn't give me a chance to warn you – She doesn't work here. Her body's not for sale."

This caught the drunkard off guard. "What? But if she's not...Ooh, she here as a customer, then?"

"Oh heavens no. She's not here for amorous congress of any sort, so keep your distance if you know what's best for you."

"...Are you sure?" he asked, almost looking a little desperate.

"Completely." said Alice. "I have no interest in carnal acts until I'm married. I'm here on a friendly visit, nothing more."

Awkward silence followed, as for some reason even Madam Sharpe struggled to find a word to say. The drunkard finally broke the silence: "So, where are the other girls?"

"...Come with me and we'll discuss who's available tonight, and for what." With that, Madam Sharpe led him out of the room, and Alice sat down to calm her racing heart.

A few minutes later, Madam Sharpe returned with a defeated sigh. "I've tried to make this life as safe as possible for my girls, but the customers are always a gamble. They'll be a lot happier when they don't have to come here for their living." Alice nodded in wholehearted agreement.

"By the way," Madam Sharpe began as she picked up her tea, "you said you were saving yourself for marriage. Why? After all that's happened, I'd have thought you'd given up on men."

"Not entirely. I _have_ abandoned the notion of sex for pleasure. And no matter how desperate my situation gets I will never be a prostitute. But the longer I spend alone, the more I think about the happy times I had with my family, and how I might want a family of my own someday soon. How I might want children of my own. Of course I will have to wait for the right man; someone who's kind, faithful, dependable; someone who can take care of the household and the children when I can't because I'm stuck in Wonderland. It can't be someone who would just leave for work in the day and order me about like a slave at night."

"Ooh, now that's a tall order, from my experience. Wasn't too long ago we didn't legally exist as persons. Too many men are used to being the slavemaster, and they won't give up their power anytime soon. You're going to wait a long time for the right man to come around, I guarantee that. But enough about that; what was it you were saying before we were so rudely interrupted?"

Alice sighed, and said: "Well, I have a list of potential opportunities, but with Mr. Russel gone I'm short a reference..."

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

…...

…..

 _Well, wasn't that fun? That whore did everything you wanted her to, and for a fair price. So why are you so sullen?_

 _Stumped? Well then let me tell you. It was because of that girl that struck you. The Madam's so-called friend. No one's ever struck you before, and now a woman, a woman of all things, dares to be the first._

 _You didn't deserve that. You're a big, strong, man. God decreed that woman would be subservient to you in all things. Always obey, never question or talk back, and most certainly never fight back._

 _And what's worse, it actually hurt. You were cast down lower than a woman, and made inferior. If any of your friends find out about this, you'll be the laughing stock of the town. A lesser man. They will call you names like Lady, Baby, and Girly, or even Mollycoddle. And that girl you like? She'll find someone else. Someone who can give her what only a real man can give._

 _You need to do something to prove you're still a real man. And I can help you._

 _Accept me, Cardin Varnham. I am your strength._

… _..._

…...

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"So, you have experience with teaching? That's good."

"Thank you, Mr. Renfrew." said Alice, trying to hide the nervousness in her voice. This was her chance for a job as a governess in his house, and there were a thousand ways this could go wrong.

"Where did you acquire this experience, by chance?"

And that was one of them. It would be extremely awkward for her to admit she acquired that experience in a brothel, regardless of circumstances, to a respectable man like Mr. Renfrew.

"...My...former nanny, erm...she had this...friend who fell on hard times. She wanted to learn how to read and write. So nanny started teaching her...and I watched, and helped out when I visited."

She gripped the edges of her dress. There was no way he missed the fear in her voice. He started looking at the letter of recommendation from Dodgson, the one she had used multiple times over to apply for work. He might now notice all the creases from being frequently used.

And the reference that's supposed to be from Mr. Russel, but was actually written by Madam Sharpe. A forgery, that will definitely send her to gaol. Now that his suspicion is most surely roused, he'll tell the difference for sure-

"Well, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't hire you, Alice!"

That caught Alice by surprise. He didn't even bother looking at the reference! But as desperate as she was, she wasn't about to question her good fortune. Eventually she stammered out a "T...thank you," and they stood up and shook hands.

"Come," he said, "Let's get you introduced to your charges."

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"Connections, connections, there's always connections."

"What do you mean, Madame?"

"Look at the list of stolen property, Jenny. There's the usual missing jewels, silver, and plates, but look at this: _Procès de condamnation et de réhabilitation de Jeanne d'Arc._ A french text valued at hundreds of pounds. What kind of low-class burglar would know the value of books in foreign languages?"

"Um..."

"The answer, of course, is someone who had a decent education, one more thorough than the typical slum sneakthief. One who knows how to appraise the value of a text from a simple glance, since we know the burglars didn't have much time to commit their crime. The answer is our missing clerk with aspirations of becoming a gentleman, Toby Russel. With the evidence from this crime and his wife's description, we should be able to track him down quickly. Then we'll be one step closer to Alice."

And with that, Madame Vastra dipped a quill into a small bottle filled with human blood, and wrote _Toby Russel_ upon the document. After a moment of consideration, she dipped it again and wrote _ALICE_ in large print.

Jenny knelt down behind her mistress, reaching for the list from Scotland Yard's report on the burglary she was asked to consult on...and instead caressing the gloved hand holding the list. "Madame," she said, "while it is wonderful to see you at work, I worry this 'Alice' case may be turning into something of an obsession. Is there no time in the day for anything else?"

Vastra did not turn her head. "Jenny, you forget your place."

"Perhaps I do." Jenny said teasingly. "Perhaps I need a reminder?"

That tone of voice prompted Vastra to look up from her work for a second. She looked around, and finally realized she was in the middle of the floor in the library, loose paper all around her with marks both English and Silurian, and Jenny looking at her with a fluid expression – somewhere between mischievous and pleading.

"Oh dear, I haven't been neglecting you, have I?"

"I wouldn't go so far as to say that..." said Jenny as the two rose off the floor; "But you haven't looked up from your work ever since we first heard about Mr. Russel. You've barely eaten or slept since then. I'm worried for you, Madame."

"I am deeply sorry to give you cause for such concern, my dear. It's just...this feeling I get sometimes...almost as if, if I neglect this for the slightest second, it will slip from my mind and never return.. But you're right. This isn't worth ignoring my health and your happiness."

Jenny's face lit up in delight upon those words, encourage Madame Vastra to continue: "Tomorrow, we resume the hunt with all our might...but tonight, we rest."

"I hadn't planned on resting tonight, O dark poison of my heart."

Before the two of them could be lost in a fit of laughter, Madame Vastra tightly embraced her 'maid', and kissed her.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

" _The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth and addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice._

" _Who are you?" said the Caterpillar._

 _This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, "I – "_

"You replied! _You_ replied!" shouted Peter Renfrew all of a sudden.

"Tell it right!" said Pearl Renfrew.

"Yeah, tell it right!" said Pauline Renfrew.

And there went Alice's attempt to calm Mr. Renfrew's children through storytelling. Three rambunctious and bouncy children who, who never seemed to sleep, and have driven away two previous instructors, who were now Alice's responsibility since the widower Renfrew was stuck at his grueling accounting job all day every day. For a few days storytelling had worked to calm them down...but this particular novel, _her_ novel, raised the first interruption.

"I don't appreciate being interrupted. Now, what do you mean, 'tell it right'?"

"It's your story! You're Alice! But you're saying it like Alice is someone else!"

"...She might be, Pauline." said Alice. "There's more than one girl in the world named Pauline, after all. Suppose I'm a different Alice?"

"But suppose you're not? You talk like her!"

"...Do I?" asked Alice, nervously. To which all three of the children nodded emphatically. She weighed her memories of a shattered Wonderland with their smiling, anticipatory faces, and said "...Very well. But just this once, OK?"

" _The Caterpillar and I looked at each other for some time in silence: at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed me in a languid, sleepy voice._ "

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

The ingenuity of the criminal mind is never to be underestimated. There are always people desperate, greedy, or wrathful enough to want to commit a crime, and their success (as well as continued freedom) depends on staying one step ahead of the law. For every padlock, there's a skeleton key or a cutter, and for every locked window, there's a knife or jemmy.

Putting bars on the windows to deter thieves who might stand on each other's shoulders, even though it sounds like overreacting, is not enough to deter the ingenious burglar. For instance, they might notice that the building has more than two storeys, and not all the windows are barred on the topmost floor.

Of course, not many thieves would have the tools required to reach such a height, but Toby Russel believed he did. To go along with his chimney-sweep disguise, he brought a series of long brushes connected by rope, effectively making an improvised ladder. To address the problem of attaching it to a surface two dozen meters above him, he brought a spring-loaded contraption to launch up a hook into the gutter. Said hook was padded with cloth to minimize the noise – but just in case, he had a bottle of chloroform on hand as well as some weapons.

Of course, the enforcers of the law know this, and are always on the alert. As ingenious as Toby was, he could not have forseen he would be tracked down by the Veiled Detective herself, and accosted the night before he was to execute his daring robbery.

Her voice was the first thing he heard: "Mr. Russel, your unique blend of brute force and subtlety is on the verge of elegant and stupid. I'm surprised it took me this long to find you – but the footprints, bent gutter, and eyewitness reports of a suspicious sweep ensured that this meeting was quite inevitable."

At this point Toby finally got over his fear and turned to face her. Contrary to the majority of her public appearances, Vastra had her veil lifted, revealing the full reptilian features of her face; even the crests of raised flesh on her head were visible, instead of being hidden by a hood.

Vastra had no desire to hide her true self from her prey.

As if in subconscious awareness of this fact, or simply reacting in fear to her scaly flesh, he drew back in fear. Then, he pulled the bottle of chloroform out of his pocket and threw it at her feet. He snickered in smug relief as he saw the wafts of chemical vapor arise, approaching the slitted nostrils of his enemy...

...and do nothing.

"Stupid it is, then. Chloroform vapor is not an instant sedative."

Despite the fact that he had a club-like implement on hand, suddenly Toby didn't like his chances of remaining involved with this monster, so he turned and ran. This proved to be a horrible idea as well: three sharp objects sliced at his arms and legs, and another lodged itself into his back. The sudden pain caused him to fall forward onto the cobblestone alleyway, and Vastra was upon him before he could pull himself up again. She pinned him to the ground, and bound his hands with rope, before turning his body around to face her.

"Wh- what was that?" he asked deliriously.

"Shuriken. Japanese throwing knives." Vastra explained from her postion of superiority, holding a star-shaped piece of sharpened metal in her hands. "Don't worry, these never cut deep wounds – what you should fear is what I will do to you if you do not tell me what you know about your activities...and your former employee, Alice."

"...Alice?"

"Yes. Let's get this out of the way before I forget it. I almost did forget it, but Jenny left a reminder." she said as she showed the other side of the 'shuriken': it had a piece of paper attached to it, with the word ALICE crudely written on it.

Almost instantly, Toby's expression changed from fear to anger. "What do you care about that bitch? She's in the gutter where she belongs. With all the other whores and lepers and madwomen-"

Vastra cut him off by sharply pressing her hand to his throat. Toby felt talons dig into his skin, almost but not quite penetrating. "That's not enough. I'm not looking for any 'whore,' as you say. I'm looking for Alice."

"You won't find her. There's a million others like her, living off table scraps and stolen goods. Hers is a world of corruption that I want no part of, so just take me to jail and forget about her!"

"You misunderstand, Mr. Russel." said Vastra in a venomous tone. Quite literally in fact, as she forced Toby to observe: she bared her long forked tongue, dripping with green venom, as she continued: "displease me, and the police will only find your bones. Now tell me, who is this Alice that she inspires such hatred? What is it about you that has turned you to your life of crime? Who, or what, is Alice?"

Toby spent a few seconds blubbering in fear, as Vastra's tongue slithered ever closer to his exposed neck, but finally he gave in. "...Alright, I confess. I'm jealous of her. She's everything I despise, and yet she's a better person. She's lower-class, with no aspirations save to help those less fortunate than her. And she did it through stealing. Stealing from my own store so she could teach whores how to read. Help them leave their life of sin behind. She has the faith in humanity that I lost. And even then, she stole. That's what made me realize stealing is the only way to get what you want."

"...That's better." Vastra said as she retracted her tongue back into her mouth. She then stood up, still grasping her captive, but more gently this time. "One last question, before we take you to the constables."

"Yes, yes, of course. I don't know where she lived, or where she is...but you might check around the Pawned Queen. Maybe they might know something."

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Within a secluded section of the White Queen's castle, a small gathering of mushrooms and flowers enclosed a small moss-covered rock. Upon the top of this rock sat an elaborately shaped burner, from which sweet-smelling incense wafted into the air. The tray contained a tiny recess, in which rested a small cup with golden nectar. It was overall an inviting place, but the area was sealed off to all but the very small. For those, the burner was like an entire building (in fact, a temple), the cup a lake, and the rock a mountain.

A perfect sanctuary for the intellectual Butterfly (whom Alice first met as a Caterpillar) and his guests to gather and calm themselves. Or to pass the time if, in Alice's case, there was no need for calm. He often had guests because, thanks to his delicate wings, he needed someone else to light the coals for his hookah. Alice stepped up to the temple, thinking that task would fall to her once again.

But when Alice arrived, after having shrunk herself down to Butterfly's size, she found that he had another guest already in attendance: a large wasp in elaborate Japanese robes, colored bright yellow, complete with yellow hood!

Alice was shocked, but before she could react with a fight-or-flight response, Butterfly noticed her: "Ah, Alice! So wonderful to see you on such a day as this! Come in, and meet my new friend."

Upon hearing this, the wasp turned towards Alice, and said "So you're the famous Alice, eh? I don't see what the big deal was." And then he turned back to the hookah that sat near both him and Butterfly.

Alice cautiously entered, and sat herself upon a pillow. Then she addressed Butterfly: "Forgive me. I was just surprised. This is the first time I've seen a wasp behave as anything other than an enemy."

"Ah, you've met the samurai, then? How long ago was that?" asked the wasp.

"Some time ago, I admit. It was after they had stopped attacking the Origami Ants, but even then I had the White Queen's guards as escort."

"Ah," the wasp acknowledged with a nod. "Well, things haven't changed much. Only appearances."

"You mean they still-" Alice began to say, but she interrupted herself with an observation: "Where is Butterfly?"

"Off getting some nectar, probably."

Sure enough, Butterfly re-entered the scene carrying a large vessel made out of a leaf, filled with sweet-smelling fluid.

Butterfly never was as calm and collected as he was when he was a Caterpillar. He couldn't smoke as much as he used to, because now his body constantly needed the energy nectar provides. As often as he once smoked, he now sipped from cups of nectar using his long, hollow tongue. In fact, he would have given up smoking altogether if he didn't need it to slow his brain down enough to think.

"Ah, 'regettingalongquitenicely." said Butterfly, not waiting for the smoke to calm him down before speaking. He even smoked at lightning speed, to the point where she never saw the hookah pipe in his...whatever one called a butterfly's appendage.

"I still don't see why." said the wasp with a sigh. "Now where was I?"

"Something about appearances," replied Alice. "If I recall, when the wasps were samurai, they adopted the weapons, but not the code of honor that came with the aesthetic."

"Indeed. It's like they can't think that appearances and behaviors should be linked. I thought they grasped the concept once; they told me if I was so serious about thinking for a living, I should dress like it – wear fluffy robes, and a nice wig to go along with it. Well, I took them at their word..."

Before he continued, he lowered his hood, showing the matted yellow wig that was mounted below his antennae. "...and I thought it suited me well. But when they saw it, they called me a freak, and cut my wings! If it hadn't been for Butterfly, I would have been wingless and wayless the remainder of my short life!"

"That's awful! I had no idea wasps could even be cruel to each other!"

"But I am a true outsider from what other wasps say. If you have a need, use whatever tool can get it. That's what they say. Never mind about the rules."

"A sentiment I wholeheartedly disagree with." said Alice.

Alice barely moved an inch before a burst of wind blew some smoke into her face, and she found Butterfly looming over her. "And yet, you saw no problem with using false references to acquire your position as Renfrew's governess."

"...Is this why I was called here, Caterpillar...I mean Butterfly? So you can chastise me?"

"...No. You do that too much to yourself. Far better to speak of what's right, rather than what's wrong." Butterfly punctuated his statement by sipping from its nectar cup, rolling out a thin black tongue from his mouth, before flying back to his regular perch.

"But what is right?" asked the wasp. "Is it what helps yourself, or what helps others? I've had wrongs done to me on both fronts."

"Good question. I wanted to ask the Lion and the Unicorn about it last week." Then Alice looked at Butterfly, and said "Is that why I've been called here? To discuss morality?"

"...No. You must be your own judge of such matters. It is ill advised to let others decide your values at your age." Butterfly punctuated his statement by drawing a long breath from his hookah, and blowing a smoke ring.

"And yet," interjected the wasp, "when I listened to myself, or to others, I fell upon misfortune. The choice to stay with Caterpillar keeps me safe, but doesn't allow me to do what I want. Sometimes I wish I chose differently."

"Is that why I was called here, then? To discuss my choices in life?"

"...No. For often, fate makes choices for us." Butterfly did nothing to punctuate this sentence. As soon as Alice realized this, he realized it too, and flapped his wings in emphasis.

"Then why did you call me here?"

Butterfly gave Alice a confused look. "...I didn't. And neither did my friend. I was under the impression you came of your own accord."

"...What?" asked Alice, who returned the confused glare. "If you didn't call me here, then who...?"

" _SSSSSEEERRRPPPEEEEEENNNNTTT!"_

A loud voice, like the horn of a boat, reverberated through the shrine with such force that Alice, Butterfly and wasp alike were knocked on their sides. In shock, Alice looked up, to see the gigantic head of the pigeon looming over Butterfly's sanctuary.

"Again? What's with that blasted bird?" asked a frightened Alice.

When she heard no response, she turned her head around, to see Butterfly and the Wasp flying up to the pigeon's head, in apparent attempt to communicate...only to be batted aside by a giant (by insect standard) wing!

With them out of the way, the pigeon lunged forward and pecked at the sanctuary. The force as the beak struck the incense burner was such that it launched Alice up into the air. She screamed as she soared high, and fell far, onto the pigeon's feathery coat...

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"OOF!"

When Alice opened her eyes, her vision was obscured by feathers, but much smaller ones than she anticipated. She was also sprawled on top of a living shape that didn't bring the word 'pigeon' to her mind at all.

When she pulled herself off the ground, all the confusion was cleared: She had been knocked out of Wonderland by falling on top of Edna, one of Mr. Renfrew's maidservants, and her face landed in the feather-duster.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry Edna. I don't know how that happened." Alice said, in desperate attempt to save face as the plump woman pulled herself up.

"Oh, s'all right. Was trying to get your attention anyhow. S'like you were off in your own world, there, and-"

"Never mind that," Alice interrupted. "My attention?"

"Aye, I was 'opin you knew where the kids gone off to. 'Aven't seen 'em for two hours!"

* * *

Oh no.

I'm glad I got this one written so close to the previous one (Thanks a lot, Mom!). Fair warning, there may or may not be another hiatus with this project, as I get into my final semester of college...but I do want to finish this someday!

And I bet you, my loyal readers, want to know how Alice and her allies can come together to help her through this little predicament!


	4. Runaway Thoughts

Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own the rights to American Mcgee's Alice or Doctor Who.

And I'm back from college, hoping to finish this story now that I have the time!

* * *

Chapter 4: Runaway Thoughts

* * *

"Aye, I was 'opin you knew where the kids gone off to. 'Aven't seen 'em for two hours!"

If the fall didn't release Alice from her post-hallucinatory daze, then those words most certainly did. "Two hours?" she stammered.

"Wouldn't raise a fuss, but Master Renfrew wants 'em here for-"

Alice darted back up the stairs before the maid could finish her sentence. At the top of the stairs she found the tea set and fancy incense burner still sitting on the stand, where they no doubt prompted her latest unprovoked excursion into Wonderland. She paid them no heed, as she had bigger problems at hand.

"Peter? Pearl? Pauline?" she called out, unable and unwilling to disguise the fear in her voice. "Where are you?"

She checked the nursery, the drawing-room, the balcony, the master bedroom, her own bedroom, and the dining-room, but found no trace of the little angels she had gotten to know for the last couple of weeks. Her heart raced, and she nearly stumbled over her own dress in her mad scramble, as hope vanished with each passing second.

The last trace of hope was dispelled when Edna called from below: "I tried that, Alice! Had just as much luck!"

"...They've run away." said Alice as inevitability sank in.

After taking a second to steady herself, Alice barely managed to find her way to her room, where she put on her bonnet and shawl.

"They've run away. I was supposed to watch them, and they've run away!" she muttered to herself as she shuffled down the stairs.

"I don't suppose you'd 'ave any notion where they might've gone?" Edna asked her as she brushed past, but Alice didn't answer.

Instead, she stormed out the door, determined to make up for her mistake.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""''

"Thank you. I'll put the word out right away. Don't worry, my lady, those children won't be lost for long."

Alice nodded a silent thanks to the policeman, and set off down the street again.

Another person might have left it at that, but she was Alice. She had known the reliability of the police at its spottiest, firsthand. The image of the heavy imposing figure threatening to haul her in simply for witnessing his friends beating a layabout was one of the things she remembered from her time at Houndsditch, and how she was almost sent to the gallows when the defenders of the innocent were willing to take the side of a depraved child-pimp over her.

The trust she learned from the Doctor only went so far.

Besides, this mess was her fault. She was inattentive, lost in conversation with the Butterfly and the Wasp, when she needed to be paying attention to her charges. She was warned they required special attention, and she slipped up when it was needed the most. Now, if they were caught by another Bumby, or worse, it would be her fault.

" **Your fault..."**

Just when things were starting to look up, too. Mr. Renfrew was praising her for keeping the children attentive to their studies, and for not giving in to the usual intimidation tactics. Being able to tap into her inner child allowed her to anticipate their every trick...but now it held her back.

" **You've failed them..."**

Her eyes darted into every alleyway, every corner, anywhere that three children of no more than eight years could hide. All she found were tramps, or empty shadows.

" **Just like you failed Bumby's children..."**

She occasionally stopped to call out their names, but received no response every time. At least, none from any children. Occasionally someone would ask her who she's looking for...and after she explained, they had nothing to offer her but well-wishes.

" **Just like you failed Nanny's girls..."**

With each passing second her heartbeat increased. She knew the longer success was delayed, the more danger those children might unknowingly place themselves in, for reasons she could not comprehend. They seemed content to stay near the house and play, what could they possibly want outside the grounds?

" **Just like you failed your family..."**

Her mind raced with unwanted visions of the myriad misfortunes that could befall them if they remained lost for much longer. She knew she had to find them, or she would never forgive herself.

" **Give up, Alice. You're a menace to yourself and others. You're better off dead!"**

Of course, she wouldn't find them by giving up. And she certainly wouldn't find peace by giving in to despair, as a certain unsolicited voice in her head kept urging her to.

So, she emphatically announced: "Be silent, Jabberwock!"

" **Why should I? It won't help you find the children. They are lost forever."**

That was one way she counted herself fortunate: when other people hear their inner critic, they usually speak with their own voice. But Alice's guilt had a distinct voice, in the draconic rumbling and mechanical wheezing of the Jabberwock. Separated from herself as it was, she could freely debate it and squash the doubts it forced on her.

"I refuse to believe that. Things are only lost when no one bothers to look."

" **No one will. And your eyes are blinded to reality, so you cannot."**

"And whose fault is that? You're the one who approached me uninvited."

" **I am everywhere. I am your fear. I am your regret. I am you, Alice."**

"So is the White Queen."

" **A figurehead, who cannot help you now. No one can. No one will. Your mistakes made that certain."**

"I must assume very little of people. Not everyone wishes harm on the innocent. The honest outnumber the wicked, always."

" **Keep telling yourself that. It may become true eventually."**

"It is true. Otherwise, the Doctor would find no one worth saving."

" **For all his experience, the Doctor is a fool. He should have let you die. At least then those whose lives you ruined would have had justice."**

"And I would have ruined more lives in turn, as a Weeping Angel."

" **Stop pretending you care about others."**

"I am only here because I care."

" **It will get you nowhere. This is out of your hands. The universe hates you, and everyone you care about will pay the price. Give up.**

"Never."

The Jabberwock snarled in response, making Alice believe she'd won the argument...

….but only for a brief moment, before the dragon roared flame, electric vibrations, and noise all over her body. She convulsed and fell over, her muscles not responding when she ordered them to cover her ears, or smother the heat that ripped at her flesh. All she could do was scream in agony.

As she twitched and spasmed and fell apart, her vision started to blur, and she felt her body begging to dissolve into so many butterflies...

"Oh my god, are you alright?"

With effort, she craned her vision upwards, and saw a glinting of metal against a heroic figure. He carried what looked like a lance by his side.

"Knight...get...him away from me...please..." she weakly sputtered out.

"What knight? What are you talking about?"

She didn't expect the White Knight to say that. Fortunately, that prompted her to take another look at her savior...and with some effort, she determined that it wasn't the White Knight at all.

"...R...Richard?"

Richard Hargreaves, the bumbling inventor she met a few weeks ago, knelt beside her with a look of worry on his face. Proof that this was the real world, not anywhere in Wonderland.

"Alice?" he asked as he got a clearer look at her face, to which she slowly nodded.

The pain, heat, and noise fled her body as her grasp on reality returned, and she was able to look clearly again. She saw that her outburst had gathered a small crowd of otherwise indistinct persons, except they now regarded her as something interesting. A madwoman, perhaps?

"I'm...I'm all right now." she said with some effort.

That seemed to satisfy them. The crowd turned away from her, and went back to their normal day, where they'll hopefully forget about her...

...but Richard stayed. He helped her up onto her feet, brushed some dirt off of her clothes, and asked: "What was all that about?"

Alice remained silent, unwilling to reveal the details of her madness to someone who, despite name recognition, was little more than a stranger.

But then he said: "Please, if there's anything I can help you with..."

At that word, help, she paused. And she paused some more...and finally, she spoke: "I'm at my wit's end with worry. I'm on the hunt for three runaway children: Peter, Pearl, and Pauline Renfrew. I already involved the police, but they can't be everywhere."

Richard nodded with understanding, but then asked: "Are they...your children?"

"No. But then, I am employed by their father, Mr. George Renfrew, as governess. I guess they might as well be my-"

"Wait a minute," Richard interrupted; "George Renfrew? As in, the husband of Abigail Renfrew?"

Alice stepped back in shock. "You knew her?"

"Not personally. She was in my mother's circle of friends, and she was very distraught after her suicide a couple of years ago. If her children are runaways, permit me to help you find them. My family owes her that much."

At first, Alice was elated, but then a slight apprehension prompted her to ask: "What about...those?"

"Oh these? These are new sheets of metal I purchased for my business, and a new pipe for my forge. I can just drop these off at my store. Honestly, helping children seems more important to me."

Alice took in a breath, and said "Very well then. But before I leave, I should probably tell you what they look like. Peter is-"

Richard held up a finger as his face lit up "Wait on that. I just had an idea..."

He leaned in towards Alice's ear and whispered, and a smile returned to Alice's face. She liked his idea.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Under normal circumstances, the people at Highgate village would be busy at this time of day, without a care for something that might happen outside their daily shopping routine. But today was not an ordinary day, though nobody was aware of that fact just yet.

No one save Richard Hargreaves and Alice Liddel, who rode a hansom cab together with some odd cargo awkwardly trailing behind: a wooden box on some small wheels. Occasional 'clangs' or 'booms' were heard as the box went over any roughly-cobbled roads. On one or two occasions, the bindings came loose, and Richard leapt out of the cab to reattach them _while the cab was still moving_ , earning surprised glares and giggles from any onlookers – and an occasional exasperated sigh from Alice.

But at last, they arrived at Highgate village, disembarked, and paid the driver for his trouble. He was glad to be rid of these tiresome customers, and relieved when they said they could walk back.

As they left, Richard began the arduous process of opening the box, and setting up its contents. Having seen his buffoonery up close, Alice was starting to doubt the plan all of a sudden, and needed some reassurance: "Are you sure they're here?"

"My mother is a regular gossip hen, and told me everything about Abigail's funeral. It was a closed casket ceremony, but her photograph was all over. Those kids couldn't stop looking for their mother, and seemed unable to comprehend that the funeral was for her. And she was buried at Highgate. Ergo, this was the last place they saw their mother, and this is where they'd look for her."

"And this," she said as she picked up a component he dropped, "will draw their attention?"

"That, I'm not so sure about...but only because I've never operated this before."

Alice couldn't protest such an answer, to her disappointment. Before she could think of a suitable response, Richard finished assembling the contraption.

Standing on a sidewalk near a small cafe, Richard released the catch, and a clockwork masterpiece sprung into view. It was an impressive man-sized contraption with gears controlling the drums on the back, the cymbals on the side, and the xylophone keys on the front. Running down the middle was an accordion, and a series of pipes which simulated trumpets and other brass instruments, which were both controlled by a series of gear-operated bellows. All of this was operated by a crank, and pedals that turned each instrument on or off, and buttons for changing the pitch. Glass partitions ensured that all of the mechanisms were safe, but visible, so everyone could see how it worked.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" he shouted, gathering more attention, and cementing the interest of those who would have otherwise given only a passing glance at his arrangement. "I bring you a menagerie of musical marvelosity, the likes of which the world has never seen! If you find yourself lost in a daze of dancing delirium, swept away from the weary world and all your worries, to find that your industrious hours have passed you by, then I most sincerely apologize! But I shall let no trick of fate prevent me from presenting...the pantophonic polyorgan!"

His speech finished, he began to turn the crank in his left hand, and the machine whirred along. First came the xylophones, which plinked along a regular melody. Then Richard released the accordion, and it produced long continuous notes for the harmony. Richard switched on the drums and cymbals next, to synchronize with the xylophone's rhythm. Finally, Richard released the valves for the brass instruments, and with his right hand operated the buttons that changed their pitch.

As this one-man orchestra played along, Richard made adjustments with his feet, until he reached a desired arrangement of notes from all his instruments. Then, he added in his own addition: a simple song in tune with the xylophone's melody.

 _As I was sailing far away_

 _so many years ago,_

 _I had some time to think about_

 _my thoughts from long ago._

 _I thought of all the children,_

 _the ones we left behind;_

 _Our sisters and our brothers,_

 _though none of them were mine._

 _I thought of those in chimneys,_

 _young voices clogged with soot;_

 _A scream, a cough, a shortened life_

 _to clean a cubic foot._

 _I thought of those in fact'ries,_

 _who crawl among the gears._

 _Our greed demands, as living parts,_

 _they throw away their years._

 _I thought of those in tunnels,_

 _lost down beneath the earth._

 _They bring up coal, but not themselves;_

 _Should life not have more worth?_

 _I thought of those en-workhoused,_

 _who toil and slave for gruel._

 _They may be there a lifetime long;_

 _is anything more cruel?_

 _I thought of those in graveyards,_

 _ripped from this world too soon:_

 _To those we lost, or had forgot,_

 _I dedicate this tune._

 _Those thoughts they seem so far away,_

 _a-sailing on the sea,_

 _On boats men call the British Isles_

" _The finest on the sea."_

" _They're not our problem," so you say;_

 _I disagree, my friend._

 _If we ignore them one day more_

 _their suff'ring will not end._

 _I pray thee Lord, our children help,_

 _let they be not enslaved._

 _And if we let them live and grow,_

 _then may our sins be waived._

Alice swayed along to the rhythm, lost in the song along with so many onlookers. Then, she remembered what she was actually here to do, and started walking among the crowd. She looked for shoving, jumping, or squeaky voices, anything that would provide a hint, all while trying not to disturb the show for anyone else.

Once the song ended, Richard stood up and bowed, to considerable applause. A large crowd had gathered to witness the oddity in action, and received an experience comparable to visiting the orchestra. Only some were disappointed, but those were secretly hoping that the contraption would fail spectacularly, and injure its unwitting operator. Nearly everyone else was pleased, as evidenced when Richard extended his hat and received some mild payments...

...but the first to speak said this: "Bravo, sir. An excellent performance. But don't you think a more pleasant song would be more befitting your debut? The song you chose was far too depressing for my taste."

"I am so sorry to hear that," replied Richard. "It was composed by a reformist friend of mine. And she insisted it be the first thing I play. For one thing, it's a simple tune to work into the polyorgan, a rather complex instrument. For another, I wholeheartedly agree with its message about-"

"PETER!"

"ALICE!"

The crowd turned away from Richard to see Alice embracing a young boy, followed shortly by two younger girls.

"Thank heavens you're alright!" sobbed Alice.

"...That's the third reason," Richard continued. "They've heard the song before, and would surely recognize it."

"We were going to ask you to take us, but we couldn't find you. Honest!" Peter said, but Alice wasn't relieved at all.

"Why did you do it in the first place?" Alice asked, as confused eyes focused on her and her charges.

"We were looking for Mama!" exclaimed Pearl. "Papa said she was in Highgate!"

"But things got so crowded, and we're so hungry, and there was this scary man, and... We're so sorry!" exclaimed Pauline. "We'll never run away again!"

The children clung to Alice even tighter. Some of the onlookers thought it was a heartwarming reunion, while others were anxious for them to wrap it up so the show, or their day, could continue.

"Well, look's like that's taken care of." said Richard. "So, what shall you do now, Alice? I'm going to stay here for a while and keep playing, and-"

"Alice? Can we stay?" asked Pearl.

After she gave it some thought, Alice said: "Very well, but you can't leave my sight. And as soon as this is done, we'll get some food and then march straight home."

"Food? I don't suppose you would be averse to me joining you?" said Richard, once again drawing attention. "There's a restaurant we passed on the way here that I'm particularly fond of. I'll even pay."

"That would be delightful, Richard." said Alice.

After they exchanged smiles, Richard fiddled with his contraption and resumed playing. This time, he chose a happier song about friendship and play, to the delight of everyone in the audience.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

The meal was rather modest, some chicken and potatoes, with no fancy spices or atmosphere. But the restaurant was clean, and the company was civil. A perfect place for Alice and her entourage to settle down after a harrowing day.

"So, you're their governess?" Richard asked, innocently enough. Alice simply nodded in response.

"We like her better than the last one." said Peter. "Her lessons are easy, and she lets us have fun sometimes."

"She sang that song once. Papa loved it. It frightened me a little." said Pauline. Peter and Pearl nodded in agreement.

"Well," said Alice, "that song's supposed to be frightening. They're supposed to remind the people of London that these frightening things still happen to children. If these things stopped after Dickens pointed them out, Rucastle and I wouldn't have needed to compose it for his campaign."

"You worked with Rucastle? Such a small world; his death was all over the news last year. A good man who never deserved what happened to him." said Richard.

"Indeed." said Alice, but with more meaning than she would be willing to reveal.

Alice attempted to resume the meal in peace, but then Pearl raised a new subject. "Alice tells us stories too."

"Is that so?" asked Richard.

"Yes. She tells us about how she met a rabbit, and a dodo, and a caterpillar, and a duchess, and..."

"I think that's enough, Pearl." said Alice, concerned.

"Ah, so you're reading Lewis Carroll's books?" said Richard.

"We're reading Alice's books." Peter corrected. "They're her stories."

"But Lewis Carroll wrote about..." Richard started to say, but then he stopped. He tilted his head upwards, and looked at Alice. "Of course it would be the most wondrous thing...if you were _the_ Alice, wouldn't it?"

"Oh, she's Alice for sure." said Pauline. "Aren't you, Alice?"

"I didn't write those books," she said.

Alice paused, and looked around, and she saw people who wanted to connect her to her past, would be severely disappointed if she denied it...and for some reason, the idea of disappointing them seemed like such a betrayal of their trust in her.

"...but I did inspire them." she admitted, to which her companions responded by smiling.

"That was long ago. Back then, they were merely bizarre dreams I had as a child. But recently I remembered them, and told them to an old family friend, and he turned them into fiction."

Richard's face lit up in amazement. "You should be a celebrity! Why aren't you, Alice?"

Alice sighed. "Because I'm not too fond of those dreams. And recently, those dreams have started coming back unbidden, sometimes even when I'm awake. Really inconvenient in a crowd."

"Oh, is that why you were screaming when I found you?" asked Richard.

Alice paused in consideration, and ultimately said: "Yes. A daymare. I thought the Jabberwock was attacking me, and you...you were the White Knight coming to save me."

She added a small smile to the last statement. It seemed to have the desired effect, and everyone at the table started laughing. 'Hopefully', she thought, 'this means they'll pass it off as a joke.'

Then, Peter asked: "Are you two in love?"

The children continued laughing, but Alice and Richard both stopped, and blushed, and said:

"No! What makes you say that?"

"What? We barely know each other!"

"We're just friends!"

as well as other forms of embarrassed denial. Both could tell, however, from the funny looks they got from the Renfrew children, that they weren't convinced at all.

"Alice loves Richard! Alice loves Richard! Alice loves Richard!" they chanted, bouncing in their chairs. Alice looked around, and saw some unfriendly looks among the restaurant's other patrons.

"Hush, please!" pleaded Alice, "You're making a scene! We're in public!"

The children moaned in disappointment, and Alice and Richard sighed in relief as the other people turned away.

"Thank you," she said, "You know I dislike scenes. Now, let us finish our meals so we can all head home."

"Yes, I'm sure Mr. Renfrew will be missing you three. As for me, this restaurant has a scrumptious blueberry pudding that's just calling to-"

"There you are, Richard!" shouted an unfamiliar voice.

Everyone turned towards the entrance to see an wiry middle-aged man in a freshly-pressed black suit forcing his way past the seated customers, and even knocking over a waiter and spilling all the food he was carrying, all while sporting a rather angry look on his face.

Richard buried his face in his hands, and groaned. "Father, please, mind your surroundings!"

"Never mind that! You were supposed to meet with me and Meredith an hour ago! And here we find you, wasting your precious time! Come along now, you've kept us waiting long enough!"

"Father, I think I'm old enough to make my own decisions. And besides, I haven't paid for the meal yet!"

"Then leave the money. We're going now, or else!"

"Or else what?" asked Peter.

"Or else I get cut off from the family estate." Richard explained. "It's complicated, but...I have to go now. I'm sorry."

And with that, Richard got up from his chair, left a pound on the table, and walked towards the exit...

...but not before Alice said: "Thank you, Richard. For everything."

"A pleasure, Alice." he replied, before exiting with his father.

The rest of the meal passed in silence.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

On paper, _The Pawned Queen_ was listed as an inn, but nearly everyone in the neighborhood knew it was truly a brothel. Adherence to the guidelines of the Contagious Diseases Act had protected it from the police, as well as a generous offering of favours to any who raised the notion. What separated it from many similar brothels, however, was the Madam's preference for girls who never wanted to be prostitutes in the first place. She attracted them from other establishments, even bought them from other brothels or pimps, and promised to help them escape this life. And, to the best of her abilities, she has kept this promise; when the girls weren't providing sexual services, they were learning reading, writing, and other skills that would help them live a life outside the bedroom. This earned her some slack from those who called prostitution the 'great social evil,' but not complete immunity.

Regardless, no one who represented the law had approached its doors in years, a streak that was broken when Madame Vastra appeared one lonely night. Jenny accompanied her, as this was one of the occasions where she wanted to watch her mistress at work. (There were also worries of temptation, though neither would admit to it.)

She knocked on the door. To her surprise, no one answered.

"Locked? Odd, one would think they'd be open for business this hour."

"Indeed, Jenny, that was what our information suggested. Furthermore, a glance at the door's handle tells that it can only be locked from the inside. Ergo, they either have a back entrance or someone is inside. And unwilling to open their doors to a potential customer...Jenny, be a dear and check for an alternate entrance, would you?"

Jenny pouted, and said "Why do we have to split up?"

Instead of responding, Vastra hushed her. Jenny felt indignant, until Vastra pressed her ear up against the door. Curious, she followed suit.

" _...and I can control MY girls!"_ said a muffled, but distinctly male voice, to the confusion of the listeners – they'd been led to believe that a Madam ran this brothel.

" _These aren't your girls! I own this – Oh!"_ replied a female voice, followed by a loud crash.

" _Not anymore! I'll show you how a MAN does business! I won't be struck by a woman ever again. You lot'll be my slaves, as God intended! And as for the price for talkin' back..."_

More shrieks of pain followed.

The two listeners nodded in silent agreement as to a course of action. Jenny stepped backwards, while Vastra tapped on the door, listening for the echoes...and where they were conspicuously absent, like a place where a lock might reside. Remembering her training from the Orient, she clasped her hands together, focused her energy into her right hand...

...and struck. The door flew open with a loud crack, as the lock fell to the ground, along with the splinters of wood that once attached it to the door.

Vastra and Jenny rushed in, and beheld a grisly sight in the modest lobby: a tall man in ragged clothes stood over a heavy-set woman, whose face was covered in bruises and blood, while a dozen women clad only in nightwear looked on in horror.

The man turned away from the brothel women to look at the intruders, whom he regarded with disgust, instead of the fear Vastra expected. "An' who might you toffers be?"

"Nobody important. However, our friends at Scotland Yard might be interested in you. I would recommend you surrender quietly." Vastra said, tensing her muscles just in case.

The man responded first by kicking the bloodied woman at his feet, and then saying: "Surrender? A man never surrenders! Cardin Varnham takes orders from no one, and no bloody woman's gonna start!"

All pretense of restraint thrown away, Cardin threw himself at Vastra, who easily turned aside his punch and threw him into the wall. Before he could recover, Jenny pinned his arms behind him, and forced him to the ground.

Rather than admit defeat, Cardin started snarling and writhing like a wild beast. So Jenny delivered several sharp strikes to his pressure points, leaving him in too much pain to continue.

Vastra gave him an icy glare. "I don't know what it is about mammal standards of masculinity that compels them to resolve simple disagreements between the sexes with inordinate violence."

With pained breath, Cardin replied: "Man's supposed to be dominant... strong, free of emotion. Woman's supposed to serve man...if I can't control my women then I'm worthless."

"Well you won't be attracting many women with that brutish attitude. Not that I find your gender attractive anyway."

And with the final say in the argument (which Jenny holding her hand over his mouth to prevent any retort certainly helped with), Vastra turned her attention to the injured woman, who was being helped off the floor by some girls.

"Oh, thank you ever so much, my lady." she said as she got up, and wiped her bloody face with her apron. "I'm Madam Sharpe, the manager. We owe you our lives."

"Actually, I believe you owe us very little. We never arrived with the intention of rescue, but gathering information requisite for sating a curiosity of mine."

When her statement was only met with a confused stare, Vastra restated herself: "I want to ask you some questions."

"Ah. Well, ask away. I've got nothing to hide."

"Do you have a relation or acquaintance who goes by the name of Alice?"

Nervousness crept into Madam Sharpe's face. "What would the police want with Alice?"

"Nothing yet...but she's been coincidentally associated with several persons who were recently involved in high-profile and panic-raising crimes; most recently Toby Russel, who blamed Alice's association with this place as a motive for his abuse, arson, and burglary. And then there's Andrew Rucastle, Trenton Haymitch, and Lord Oldsworth, among several others. I personally think it goes beyond coincidence."

"Oh, Alice..." moaned Madam Sharpe with worry, as she sat down in a chair. She looked back at Madame Vastra, who tilted her veiled head as if to say 'I'm waiting.' Still, she struggled for a few seconds to find words to say.

Eventually, she managed to say: "I was her nanny, when she was very young...before I took to hooking full time. She's had some trouble with madness for a while, after her family died, but... I don't see how she could be connected to those crimes! She seemed so proper and polite last I saw her..."

Her expression changed all of a sudden, and her gaze shifted to the prone-and-still-struggling Cardin. "...which was also the first time I saw him! He was just a customer back then...he mistook Alice for one of my girls, and tried to take her, and she punched him in the face!"

"Oh, is that it?" asked Jenny, "Was this bloke such a short fuse that simply being taught manners by a woman set him off?"

"I had no idea he had this in him," said Madam Sharpe; "Aside from that, he was a perfectly civil customer that day!"

This seemed to get Madame Vastra's attention. She knelt down beside Cardin, and removed Jenny's hand from his face. "The woman who struck you, the first time you came here...did you see her before or after that day?"

"No, and a damn shame! I wanted to put that bitch in her place! She-"

Jenny hastily replaced her hand. "Sorry Madame. I just can't stand such talk."

"Nor should you." replied Vastra with a smirk. "Hardly something a proper lady should have to hear."

This prompted a knowing laugh from both. But Vastra cut it short: "Still, his only association with Alice was a simple touch, and it loosened all of his restraint...Jenny, let me see his right arm. Quickly, before I forget!"

Jenny obeyed, and Vastra bunched up the fabric of his shirt and coat, exposing the skin, which she regarded with a mixture of curiosity and horror...and eventually an "Of course!"

"What is it?" said Jenny.

"The confirmation of my hypothesis. I would have seen it on Toby too, but I was too focused on Alice."

"I don't see anything!" said Jenny, but Vastra ignored her. She instead turned towards Madam Sharpe.

"You must tell me everything you know about Alice, and how I can find her. I cannot explain it in a way your ape brain can comprehend, but unless she is found, all of humanity may well succumb to this same madness!"

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

When the bell hung by the door rang several times in succession, George Renfrew knew better than to keep his hopes up. He had already experienced heartbreak once, and he knew it could very well strike again. The first time he answered the door after his wife's disappearance, there was a police officer to confirm her suicide. Today, his children and governess vanished without a trace. He sent Edna to answer the door in his stead, but he knew it would only delay the inevitable...

So, when Edna shouted: "Alice found 'em!" at the top of her lungs, he felt he would nearly faint with relief. Keeping hold of himself as well as he could, he rushed down the stairs to embrace his children. Stoic ideals and societal expectations be damned, he needed to show some affection to these children, or something horrible might happen again.

There were apologies, tears, and kisses all around. Mr. Renfrew had to consciously remind himself that he couldn't do this forever, or else he would have tried. But with some effort, he was able to pull himself off the floor and...

...find that Alice, the person he intended to thank, hand walked right past him and headed upstairs! Confused, he and the children went upstairs after her.

Alice headed into her room, and no sooner did she enter than she started packing her things!

* * *

The plot thickens! A friendship grows...and so does the chaos left in Alice's wake!

What will Alice do now? Where will Vastra go next?

You'll probably find out pretty soon, as I have the free time I need to write this!


	5. The Frumious Foes

Disclaimer: I do not own American McGee's Alice or Doctor Who.

* * *

Chapter 5: The Frumious Foes

* * *

Alice headed into her room, and no sooner did she enter than she started packing her things!

"Alice, what are you doing?" asked George Renfrew in confusion.

"Consider this my resignation, Mr. Renfrew. I cannot be your children's governess any longer."

George entered the room. "Alice, I...I don't understand."

"The only reason the children ran away was because I turned my back. They left while I was daydreaming. It took me two hours to return to reality and discover they were missing. Two hours in which they could very well have gotten hurt, or worse."

"But...I still don't...they didn't get hurt! You found them, and returned them!"

"With the help of a stranger." Alice retorted. "The search could have taken days had Richard not stepped in. But even that's beside the point."

"What point?"

"The point is," said Alice as she struggled to close her trunk, the vehicle for all the belongings she brought, "You cannot trust me around the children. I am unreliable."

"Alice, you cannot determine that from one single incident! It's clear you still love them, and they love you! If this is even the slightest trace of your fault, as you claim, I am still quite willing to forgive!"

"As ever, you're too kind Mr. Renfrew." said Alice with a brief smile. "But what will you say the next time this happens? And the one after that? Because I can guarantee this will happen again."

Before George could say anything, Alice dragged her trunk out the door...only to be blocked from descending the staircase by the children she had just saved.

"No, Alice!"

"Please don't go, Alice!"

"We love you, Alice!"

Alice leaned down and embraced them one last time, and said: "I love you too. But that's why I have to leave. You need someone who can protect you, and that person is not me."

With that, she directed them out of the way, and began hefting her trunk down the stairs. It took her a while, considering the heavy load, but eventually she reached the bottom. As she paused to catch her breath, Mr. Renfrew followed her down.

"You were the only one who responded to my advertisement. I worry I'll have nowhere else to turn but you. Is there truly no way to dissuade you from this?" he asked.

Alice sighed, and nodded. "To be honest, I wish there were, but no."

George sighed in frustration and sadness. "Well, at least allow me to call you a porter, to help you with your luggage."

"...Thank you." Alice said as she offered her hand, giving Mr. Renfrew a brief handshake. "I wish you luck in finding my replacement."

It was some minutes before the porter arrived, and Alice's luggage was carried off, allowing her to finally leave the Renfrew household for good. Mr. Renfrew was distraught, from a mixture of lingering fear from the earlier episode, and from an inescapable feeling that a part of his spirit had been taken away...

…...

…...

 _And there she goes, along with all your hopes of keeping your children safe. Sad, isn't it? She said that you couldn't trust the children with her, but if only she knew what you had done..._

 _After all, it was you who concealed the notion of death from them, wasn't it? You said their mother was in Highgate, but you should have said Highgate Cemetery. But you didn't. You didn't even try to explain that their mother was dead. It was your fault they ran away, not hers._

 _And their mother? You had every opportunity to save her. You could have stopped her from whoring herself out to pay your creditors, after you accrued those debts. You could have stopped her from contracting that disease. You could have stopped her from getting addicted to opium, to cope with the pain. But you didn't. Instead, you reacted too late, cutting her off from the opium that was her only source of relief._

 _You taught her you had no love to give, only pain. Now these children need love you cannot provide. And without it, these incidents will continue. Your previous governesses discovered this while you were too busy mourning your wife to help raise her children._

 _You won't get far raising them on your own. There's only one thing you can do to keep them safe, but it will hurt you and them. It will take more than you have in you. But I can give it to you._

 _Accept me, George Renfrew. I am your strength._

…...

…...

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

The Hargreaves sitting room felt uncomfortably like those sitting within were playing chess, with neither willing to make the first move. Though Meredith, Thomas, and Richard were all family, there was a level of animosity that would disturb any who prized love between children and parents above all others.

Richard, having been rudely pulled from his supper, chewed on a watercress sandwich while he waited for his parents to start speaking. But it seemed like Thomas and Meredith were waiting for him to do the same. At one point, thinking they wanted to do nothing but glare at him, he had gotten up to leave, but they wordlessly told him to remain seated.

Eventually, he had finished his sandwich, and waited close to two minutes, but his parents seemed determined to do nothing but glare. Richard gave in and began the conversation.

"If its money you're concerned about, I did make a profit from the performance. More than enough to cover the carriage and the restaurant."

"Its not the money that's concerning, but the spectacle you made. Street-performers are supposed to be beggars, not gentlemen." said Thomas with his cold, raspy tone.

"That was not a simple street performance, father. It was a demonstration of my inventions. I hope to sell these things someday."

"Hope. Hope, hope, hope. That's all you've had, Richard." moaned Thomas. "So far, none of these hopes have translated into concrete success. You would accumulate astronomical debts without the allowance you receive from us. And all we ask in return is that you don't embarrass the family name. Is that too harsh a demand?"

"...Sometimes it does seem that way. To me, the family name means nothing but stagnation. You're content with skimming off your investments and land income, never needing to perform any honest labor. I feel like I've earned none of what I have been given."

"Richard, simply being _born_ a gentleman means you've earned everything you've been given. Why can't you see that?"

"Because, father, I desire activity. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but its father is an engaged, intelligent mind. My mind is teeming with a thousand creations begging to be introduced to the world, and I fear I would be doing the world a disservice if I just rested on my laurels and let my creativity go to waste. Give me a problem with gas heating, for example, and I give you the electric teapot. For an inventor, leisure is too close to laziness. I hope one day you'll understand."

Thomas narrowed his eyes. "I do not appreciate being called lazy. Does managing the estate, ensuring my daughters' dowries and maintaining our upstanding reputation sound like laziness? I raised you, didn't I?"

"Did you indeed?" said Richard as he looked away and sipped his tea.

"I know I raised you better than to conduct yourself like animals in that pub I found you in. The way you conducted yourself with those children, and that strange woman, it nearly disgusted me."

Richard nearly choked on his tea. "Those children? Father, I am appalled. Didn't you recognize Abigail's children? Mother, you remember Abigail, right?"

Having finally been given leave to enter the conversation, Meredith spoke up: "Oh, yes of course! Peter, Pearl and Pauline Renfrew. They were such joys to behold."

"Well, they had run away from home earlier today, and I offered my help in getting them back."

"Ah, my apologies." said Thomas. "I was angry, and didn't really notice anyone other than you. But...who was the woman with you?"

"She's their governess, Alice." Richard replied. He considered stopping there, but decided against it; "Funny thing, we'd met a few weeks earlier by chance, and I thought I'd never see her again, but now I consider her a friend."

"Did she make an impression on you?" asked Meredith, with a tone betraying her as unsure what to feel.

"Meredith, are you saying that-" Thomas began, but Richard interrupted.

"Yes, the encounter was quite memorable. You know those Lewis Carroll books I read a little while ago? Turns out she inspired them, when she was younger. We had so much to discuss about-"

"Wait a minute, Richard. You don't mean Alice Liddell?" asked Meredith, who had settled on concern.

Richard replied: "She never told me her last name..."

"Well, I heard it on good authority that the woman who inspired Lewis Carroll was none other than the Liddell girl from a notorious case, some years back."

"You know her? From what?" Richard asked with more engagement than he'd shown all conversation.

"You were rather young when it happened... Thomas, do you remember hearing about the Houndsditch scandal?"

"Oh...yes, of course, Meredith. Terrible thing, that. Not exactly something for polite discussion, don't you think?"

Meredith replied, in a stage whisper: "I think he needs to hear this."

Thomas thought about it for a few seconds, then nodded his approval. So, Meredith began: "The Liddell family died in a fire, all save Alice, who grew into womanhood in an insane asylum. For ten years she couldn't distinguish fantasy from reality."

This caught Richard's attention; "She did mention she had waking dreams...mistook me for a knight..."

"That's not the worst part. The worst part is that after she was released, she went into the care of a certain Dr. Bumby, a hypnotist who ran the old Houndsditch orphanage in Whitechapel. Turned out he was the arsonist who killed her family, and wanted to make her forget about it all to cover up his crime. She murdered him after she found out, and was tried, but the jury went easy on her. And why? Because she removed a great social parasite from London."

"On the side, you see, Bumby made a business selling his children, after he'd erased their memories, to work in...well, the business of sin." She winced, but continued. "Before he died, he said he wanted to do the same to Alice. Said he fancied her sister, even defiled her just before he died...do you see where I'm going with this, Richard?"

"...No."

Meredith sighed. "Think about it. She loses track of reality easily, and lived with a depraved leech for years, then lived on the streets for a few years more, with all the layabouts and lurkers? There's no chance a girl like that could hold on to her virtue!"

Thomas nodded, finally getting the message. "So what you're saying, my dear, is that he should stay away from this Alice person?" he said.

Meredith nodded. "It just wouldn't do for someone of our station to be associated with a woman of such ill repute, wouldn't it, Richard?"

"Not even as a friend?" asked Richard indignantly.

"Sadly, yes." said Thomas. "If you worry about her feelings, then it's best to end contact now, before you've made too much of an impression on her."

'What about the impression she made on me?' thought Richard, though he dared not say so out loud. Instead, he said: "Very well..." with reluctance.

"Much better. Don't worry, we'll help you find some other, more respectable friends." said Meredith with as genuine a smile as she could manage.

As the conversation ended and parents and son went their separate ways, Richard thought of the retort he wanted to make, but for fear of losing his allowance, the safety net that allowed him to pursue his dreams, he couldn't say:

'They probably won't be as interesting, or as kind, as Alice...'

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

As the sun slipped below the line of buildings, Alice finally returned to the squalor that was her old apartment, ready to resume the life of an unemployed single woman.

But instead of reaching into her trunk and unpacking, or anything else, Alice plopped down face-first onto the wiry bed and started crying. "No, no, no, no, what have I done? What shall I do? Why did I think I could live a normal life?"

She stopped herself there, recognizing that self-defeating language wouldn't help her in any way; however, she could not stop herself from crying. Even though it had only been slightly more than two weeks, cutting herself off from the Renfrew children still felt like tearing off her own arm. At least this way she couldn't endanger them again, she thought in an attempt to calm herself, but that only worsened the crying.

For almost three minutes, the sound of her sobs and sniffles were the only things she could hear, and the rest of the world seemed to disappear. It suddenly re-appeared, however, when a repetitive metal CLANG assaulted her ears, along with a deep WOOP from a horn.

Clasping her hands over her ears, Alice looked around in an attempt to identify the source of the sound. Finding no potential source in her bedroom, she decided to look outside. She carefully stepped to her apartment's front door, and opened it...

...finding it led to, instead of the familiar hallway, a different one made of gigantic gears etched with odd alchemical symbols.

Alice looked around in shock and bewilderment for all of a few seconds, before her face contorted and she shouted: "Go away! You're the reason I'm here!" With that, she closed the door and turned away...

….only to discover her apartment had been replaced with even more gears, and that the one she was standing on was getting ready to turn, and push her into a wall.

With some effort (her new clothes were not designed for jumping all over Wonderland anymore) she leaped to another gear that traveled along a corkscrew. The gear dislodged from its standstill position and started spiraling downwards, leaving her with nowhere within jumping distance. She prayed that would change before anything bad happened.

To her shock and dismay, the corkscrew came to an end, and she as well as the gear fell into an abyss of black and brown metal, with no bottom in sight.

Alice screamed for a few seconds, simply in reaction to the fall, but then her misery and self-hatred silenced her voice, and welcomed the sudden stop that inevitably waited for her at the end of the fall...

...when it was suddenly arrested by net made from a series of different cables, some made of piano wire and some made of wool!

"Spot on! Now, everyone pull!" shouted a familiar nasally voice. And with regular jerks, the net began to rise up, until it reached a platform, where a crew of Madcaps and Pawns pulled it to safety before opening it.

No sooner did Alice catch her breath than two figures stepped out of a dark corridor: the Mad Hatter and the White Queen.

"Oh dear," said Alice sheepishly, "I'm sorry if I broke anything."

"The component was not your fault, Alice." assured the White Queen.

"I wish we could have met under more agreeable circumstances," said the Hatter, "But my domain is in a most gracious state of repair. Everything is all higgledy-piggledy and mimsy!"

"I don't understand. I never intended to be here in the first place! Did someone call me?"

"I don't know, but we would be grateful to whomever is responsible." said the Queen. "We need your help."

Before Alice could ask any followup questions, the Hatter ushered her onto a decorated circle on the floor, where she was soon joined by him and the Queen. The circular plate then rose up on some unseen piston, carrying the three to a different part of the maze of gears.

There, she saw a large expanse of torn gears, cogs with no connections, pistons that wouldn't pound, and wheels that wouldn't turn. Madcaps scrambled all over, using various tools in vain attempts to fix machine parts that were five times their size, while Pawns did their very best to hold the broken parts in place so they could be fixed at all.

In the middle of the vast expanse, two characters flew by on elaborate flying-machines powered by levers, pedals, and paper wings: the March Hare and Dormouse.

"Any luck, Dormy?" Alice heard the March Hare bark as he passed by his companion.

"Plenty, but none of it good! Assemblage is still stuck in a rut!"

The March Hare banged his wrench-arm on his flying-machine in frustration, and the two flew off in separate directions. The panel continued to rise, and entered yet another section. This one, however, was in even worse condition, as the Madcaps and Pawns hadn't even reached it yet.

"Shameful, truly shameful." growled the Hatter. "There's no place it hasn't touched, no part it hasn't ruined, no industry it hasn't disrupted, no tea party it hasn't interrupted! The pounding, the poaching, the crashing, the courting, the completely unnecessary destruction!..." The Hatter paused as his rant forced him to start coughing again.

Failing to grasp any meaning, Alice turned to the White Queen and asked: "What happened?"

"You already know what happened. More importantly, you know why it happened. You just don't realize it yet." the Queen countered. "This is the center of industry in Wonderland. Everything within these factory walls exists for one purpose and one purpose alone: Productivity, efficiency, and determination to contribute to society through labor."

"That's three things..." Alice started to say, but the Queen continued.

"But now order and efficiency have been torn away, leaving only madness in its wake. Think, Alice. This is your world. What could have destroyed the perfect image of industriousness?"

After the Queen asked her question, Alice knew the answer right away: "I no longer see myself as capable of working, do I?"

"Precisely. And where your thoughts go, Wonderland follows." said the Queen with a solemn expression. And as if to punctuate that phrase, a massive gear fell off its perch to the ground, crashing through it with a loud CLANG, followed by softer crashes and screams as it crushed the people in the expanse below.

"So now what?" Alice asked.

"Now, you must decide if this is a problem, and if you truly wish it to be solved."

Once again, Alice was caught off-guard; "What? This clearly looks like a problem. Why is that even in question?"

The Hatter responded: "When has the truth been in question? When have your wishes been in question?"

Alice could not think of an answer to those statements, so the White Queen spoke up instead: "Ever since you raised us up from a humble Pawn to our current status, and gave us our crown, we have sought everything that was best for Wonderland, and for you, in thanks. But we cannot solve your problems, only you can. And that is why you're here. If this...' she said as she pointed towards the ruined factory floor 'is acceptable, you can leave right now. But if not, then we shall continue onward."

Alice turned to look over the devastation of the Hatter's factory, and with it her self-image as a contributing member of society. It was obvious that the earlier episode with Mr. Renfrew's children, which she still blamed herself for, was partially (if not entirely) to blame.

"I took my frustration out on Wonderland...because it was me going to Wonderland that caused it in the first place..." she mumbled to herself, not intending to be heard...

...but somehow she was, as the Queen replied: "We can only forgive you if you can forgive yourself."

The sudden interruption made Alice lose her train of thought for a moment (and upon realizing this, the White Queen partially turned into an embarrassed sheep), but she was back on track shortly. Then, she spoke out: "I'm worried, your majesty. I believe this is a problem, and I want to fix it..."

"Perfect!" exclaimed the Hatter, and he tapped the lift so it went faster, up into the upper floors.

"...but I don't know _how_ to fix it!" Alice protested over the piston's hum. "And I'm worried I might make things worse!"

"You'll know what needs to be done when you see it." said the White Queen in a reassuring tone, once again looking mostly human.

Unsure of what to make of the Queen's remark, the three remained in silence until the moving floor came to rest on what Alice presumed to be either the top floor or the roof – which, she couldn't tell, because there was no light.

Without a word, the Hatter reached up and pulled a chain that hung from somewhere above him. Nearby, a pair of mechanical hands rose up from the ground, and started rubbing sticks together like some primitive people, until they eventually sprouted into flame.

The hands then transferred the flame to a fireplace, where it brought a teapot to a boil, creating steam that propelled a large fan...

...turning a series of gears that loosened a large iron ball from somewhere on the wall. It rolled into a large boot...

….that kicked over a balanced pile of copper rods. The falling rods disturbed some string, causing a suspended weight to be dropped from above...

...into a catapult that launched a teabag into the boiling teapot. The scent of steeping tea reached a giant nose, which audibly sniffed...

...and in response, another mechanical hand stretched out from the wall (with an audible yawn) and opened up a gas lamp...which was only five steps away from where everyone was standing right now. Before Alice could express her incredulity at the needless complication of a simple task, her mind was instantly shifted to another emotion: Shock.

" _Your Fault! You did this!_ "

Within the gas lamp's glow, she beheld a giant creature shaped like a wolverine, but made out of none of the requisite materials. Instead of eyes, it had mechanical searchlights. Instead of teeth, it had jets of flame. Instead of claws, it had fish-hooks. And instead of fur, its body was covered in some black substance that seemed to constantly rearrange itself, like a drawing being drawn and erased and re-drawn faster than Alice's eyes could follow.

"What is that...thing?" asked Alice.

"The Bandersnatch." answered the White Queen with a shudder. "It's worse than we thought."

"A frumious Jabberwock-spawn born from the union of hatred and anger," elaborated the Hatter.

Alice regarded the Bandersnatch with curiosity and caution, and it responded by bellowing in her direction: " _You're a menace! The bane of children! The world is better off without you!_ " it snarled as it raked its hook-like claws into a nearby gear, cutting the thick metal in half.

"Self-hatred, obviously." Alice noted. That observation out of the way, she could no longer distract herself from the reality of the situation. She regarded her hands with a confused stare, and then turned back to her companions.

"...You want me to fight that thing?"

"Only you can. Only the one who let it out can put it down." said the Hatter as he leaned in uncomfortably close to her face.

"But I haven't fought anything in so long...I haven't even touched the Vorpal Blade since-"

"But you still remember its touch," said the White Queen in interruption, "from when the only way to control your uncontrollable thoughts and manias was to cut them down."

"Yes...but I thought those days were behind me. I obviously still do, to some extent; otherwise, don't you think my dress would be a little more appropriate for combat right now?"

"We are never prepared for that which we cannot anticipate. But we must be ready for it. You're the same, Alice. If you intend to fix the problem now, when we have no one to call upon for assistance, then your only option is to fight the Bandersnatch before it can escape and get any stronger."

And with that, the White Queen pulled a loop of wool off of her dress, rolled it and knitted it into a small bag, and opened it slightly. A meaningful glance told Alice she needed to put her hand inside it, and she did...and when she pulled it out again, she held the Vorpal Blade once again.

Her hand tightened around the knife's grip, and she regarded the semi-amorphous shape of the Bandersnatch, pacing back and forth in hungry anticipation. She regarded the surroundings, full of gears and pulleys and other mechanical implements in various states of disrepair. She regarded her dress, and thought how even if she hooked up the hem of her dress she would be at a disadvantage, one the Bandersnatch would be quick to take advantage of...

...and in the depths of her overwhelmed common sense, and survival instincts, a plan began to form.

She pulled the Queen and Hatter close to her, and whispered. "Hatter, can you create a Bandersnatch-sized hole in the wall? And close it with speed?"

"What for? You mean to create a Bandersnatch trap?"

"With me as the bait." Alice said with a nod.

The Hatter touched his hat the way a normal thoughtful person would touch his chin, and also his foot...and he said: "Of course, but not with it looking."

"Then set it up on the wall behind it right now. I need to use any advantage I can."

Both the Hatter and Queen nodded, approving of Alice's plan. Alice gave one last nod in return, before she stepped off the lift. The Queen and Hatter descended below the floor, and the floor closed up behind them, leaving Alice all alone with the Bandersnatch.

"Any more childish insults before we get this over with?" she asked in a taunting manner, as she kept the Vorpal Blade between her and the monster.

" _Daydreamer! You think you can handle me? You couldn't handle the children! You can't trust yourself!"_

"Dr. Wilson said asking for help is not a sign of weakness, but intelligence." she responded as she raised her dress's hem onto its hooks; "But since only I can fight you...well, lets see if I can earn my own trust once more."

" _Never! You abandon those who need you! You cause more problems than you solve! You have no chance!"_

The Bandersnatch reared up on its hind legs, and leaped towards her with blinding speed; it was all Alice could manage to throw herself to the ground a fraction of a second before its jaws would have closed around her.

Alice tried to take advantage of this position, and slash the Bandersnatch's underbelly, but it jumped to the side with equally blinding speed, such that the Vorpal Blade didn't even touch a speck of the constantly-shifting fur.

" _Pathetic!_ " the Bandersnatch growled before it extended its claws, which shot out on fishing lines. Once again, Alice barely managed to roll to the side. Frustrated, the beast retracted its claws with as much ease as it threw them.

"I need to slow it down somehow..." Alice said to herself as she pulled herself off of the floor. She looked around for something she could add to her arsenal. She had only a couple of seconds to think before the Bandersnatch lunged at her again. She jumped back, avoiding the bite. It tried to swipe at her with its paw, but Alice countered by slicing the other way with her knife, finally scoring a hit.

The Bandersnatch pulled its paw back in pain, and jumped back away to widen the distance. Alice didn't bother celebrating her first victory, and instead resumed her search for more of the environment she could put to her use. And she found it...

...just as the Bandersnatch launched its other set of claws at her, and this time she didn't dodge. The hooks dug into her flesh, barbed ends ensuring they stayed in tight. The lines retracted and forced Alice off her feet, and grabbing a discarded metal pole had no effect in preventing the Bandersnatch from reeling her in like an eel from the Isis.

" _Why delay what's necessary, Alice? You know the world will rejoice at your passing!_ " the Bandersnatch cackled, as it readied its jaws to swallow her whole...

...only for Alice to shove the metal pole between its jaws! Shocked, the Bandersnatch tried to reach in and pull the pole out, but that was what Alice was waiting for: she slashed the fishing-lines that were attached to her, then turned her blade on the Bandersnatch's other paw!

Fire poured out of the monster's mouth as it howled in pain, while Alice rolled away, and carefully pulled the barbed claws out of her body. Her dress was tattered and stained with blood, and still restricted her movement, but she thought the Bandersnatch looked in even more pain.

"Had enough?" she said through her pain.

The Bandersnatch, who just barely managed to remove the pole from its mouth, responded: " _This pain is nothing! Nothing compared to you! To the pain you inflict! To the pain you deserve!_ "

Then the Bandersnatch roared, and a large amount of its 'fur' gathered on the tip of its steam-valve nose, and launched itself at Alice. Alice countered by swinging wildly with her blade.

Before she could gloat about yet another advantage she gained, the discarded and chopped fur suddenly leaped off the ground and wrapped around Alice! It felt like being wrapped in gravel and old sackcloth, filled with needles, and brought Alice considerable pain. She clenched her teeth, however; she didn't want to scream, just in case she heard something.

Luckily, that was the next thing he heard: the Hatter's voice yelling "Alice! Come over here!" and a creaking sound that accompanied a section of the wall being pulled aside.

Alice focused her thoughts, and then let them go. As she did so, her body dissolved into a swarm of butterflies, which left the stinging 'fur' behind. Alice reformed her body a short distance away, and ran as fast as she could to the opening. As quick as it could, the Bandersnatch reclaimed its errant fur and leaped after her...

...just barely missing her before the Hatter slammed the opening shut, leaving it trapped inside the wall, with only its left paw and head sticking through what remained of the opening! It struggled and swiped, trying to break through, but to no avail.

The White Queen restrained the paw with a strand of wool, giving Alice the opening she needed to cut off its sharp hook-claws. Black blood spurted from the wound, and the Bandersnatch howled in pain.

"It worked!" the White Queen exclaimed. "We knew you could do it, Alice!"

"It's not done yet, though. I still have to finish it off. But that shouldn't take very long..."

Alice cautiously approached the snarling beast, brandishing her blade, and looking for an opening. The Bandersnatch snarled incoherently and flailed around, but it was in no position to use its sharp implements to cut its way out of its confinement between the gears. Eventually, it stopped flailing its paw and pulled its head back, to breathe fire on Alice. Alice used her butterfly-form to dodge to the side, and just a little bit forward, where she was able to ram the blade into one of the Bandersnatch's eyes. She pulled it back out as blood and smoke covered her, and readied another strike...

"ALICE, LOOK OUT FOR THE JUBJUB BIRD!"

The White Queen's terrified shriek distracted Alice from her attack, but didn't give her adequate warning to stop a massive gold-and-red object from slamming into her at top speed, knocking her some distance away from the Bandersnatch. She skidded along the ground for some distance, and when she stopped, she was extensively bruised and dizzy.

It took her a second to regain her bearings, and when she did she clearly saw what hit her: A massive bird-like creature with steam-pipes for tail-feathers, metallic feathers in a gold-and-red color scheme, and a roughly scissor-shaped head, flying in the vast space above the factory floor and trailing fire.

"No job! No money! Nowhere to turn! No future! Hopeless!" the JubJub Bird squawked, as it dove once again...at the Mad Hatter!

The bird's sharp beak snipped the Hatter's arms clean off, leaving no one holding the wall in place. The Bandersnatch freed itself in short order.

"I guess I have to fight this thing as well." Alice sighed, and brought her arm to bear...only to realize she was no longer holding the Vorpal Blade!

She cast her eyes around, looking for a glint of metal against the glow from the monsters' respective flames, but came up empty handed, until she looked at the JubJub Bird itself.

The Vorpal Blade was clutched in its claws.

"No, I can't fight without my weapons!" Alice exclaimed.

As if in response, the JubJub Bird jammed the blade into the side of a wall, and circled the sky, shrieking "Nothing to do! Nothing to do but die!"

"Alice, you must not give in to fear!" the White Queen called out from her hiding-place. "You must overcome your fear and anger, or you will-"

Before the Queen could finish, the Bandersnatch slammed into Alice at full force, sending her sprawling away once again.

She came to a halt on the edge of a balcony, under which swirled a void of floating gears and clock faces, all of which seemed to be mocking her. She looked back, and the JubJub Bird and Bandersnatch both readied themselves to attack.

"Come on, Alice! You must fight!" came the Queen's voice, fainter than usual.

"...What's the point?" Alice asked, no longer trying to fight her tears. "I've clearly lost! My mind is at war with me, and I can no longer fight back! My madness has returned, my life is in shambles, and it's all because I dared to believe I could live a normal life! And this time, there is nothing anyone can do to-"

"DIE, SERPENT!" came a new, all-too-familiar voice from outside.

"...And then there's _this_ nuisance!" Alice moaned, as she turned around to see the pigeon barreling towards her. "Well then, what are you waiting for? Kill me, you bloody bird! Kill me!"

Alice couldn't tell whether or not the pigeon heard her, but it did as she ordered nonetheless, and knocked her off the balcony, into the swirling void.

She screamed as she flew down, down, down...

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

...where she landed on the floor of her flat.

Shocked, Alice looked herself over: her dress was not torn at all, nor was there any soot or bloodstains, but her face was sticky with tears, and she was very much alive.

But even more than that, she was shocked at herself. With imminent death no longer staring her in the face, she remembered how enthusiastically she welcomed it, and shuddered.

"...And just when I was learning to love myself, too."

Alice pulled herself off the floor, and sat down on her bed. She took several deep breaths, but the racing in her heart would not slow down even as she regained the ability to reflect on her situation.

"Perhaps I overreacted to my letting the Renfrews run away. Of course, what's done is done, and if the kids had gotten hurt I would never forgive myself. I may really be as unemployable as I fear, but a lot of it is my fault for being too hard on myself."

"I wish the Doctor was here," she said with a sigh. "Maybe he could say what I need to hear to love myself again."

She waited for several minutes after saying that, in total silence, as if expecting the Doctor's magic box to appear in her bedroom, but to no avail. However, the memories of her time with the Doctor brought forward another idea.

She pulled some paper and ink out of a box in the corner, put them on a desk, and began to write:

 _Dear Dr. Wilson..._

* * *

I hope you can find some help soon, Alice. For everyone's sake.

See you guys next chapter! Hopefully next week or so!


	6. A Needed Holiday

Disclaimer: I do not own American Mcgee's Alice (EA) or Doctor Who (BBC)

* * *

Chapter 6: A Needed Holiday

* * *

 _Dear Dr. Wilson._

 _How long has it been since my last letter? Life has been so busy for me, and you've probably settled into your new role as Superintendent of Rutledge Asylum. I've heard better things about your profession in recent years through news article and rumour alike, both a far cry from the abuse I suffered in my youth._

 _As always, a return to the asylum remains a last resort for me, and I hope you agree with that sentiment. However, several aspects of my condition have made normal life exceedingly difficult for myself. Most recently, the hero complex you described alienated me from my employment at a bookstore, when I broke the establishment's rules in my quest to help those suffering misfortune. My hallucinations are also becoming a hazard to my work; while I was employed as a governess in a gentleman's household, my charges decided to run away from home, putting their lives and limbs in grave danger, for which I blamed myself. After all, if I had not been in Wonderland when the decision happened, I might have been able to prevent their flight._

 _I feel that, given our current understanding of each other, we both agree that my heroism and my hallucinations are inseparable parts of my character, and I have been alternatively proud of and resentful of both. I do not wish to deny myself in my quest to live a comfortable life, if I am even capable of doing such a thing. But clearly, I need some form of assistance in that regard. If you have any recommendations, please do suggest them in your response to this letter._

 _With regards,_

 _Your reluctantly grateful acquaintance,_

 _Alice Liddell._

After finishing the letter, Alice leaned back in her chair to relax, and take some more deep breaths. She briefly laughed at herself for considering voluntarily returning to the asylum even for an instant. Up until recently she believed she stood a chance at a normal life, and had come to desire it. To give up would mean to give in to her self-loathing, and send her right back to where she was as a child: with the Red Queen in charge, and Alice trapped in a Wonderland ruled by violence and madness.

Thoughts about Wonderland, as thoughts often do, tangentially led to thoughts of when her adventures in Wonderland brought about positive changes in her life. She remembered how she was once a queen, how her memories were recovered, how she met the Doctor and...

Dodgson.

"Of course," Alice thought out loud, "he helped me then, surely he can help me now."

She grabbed another sheet of paper and wrote down:

 _Having trouble. Stop. Unemployed. Stop. I think you can help. Stop. Prepare my old room, I'll be arriving soon._

She didn't bother with the address, as she could take care of that at the Telegram office. That done, she once again grabbed her letter to Dr. Wilson and added a postscript:

 _P.S. My response to any letter I receive from you may be delayed, as I plan to visit Dodgson in a preliminary attempt to sort out my life's troubles. He was of great practical assistance to me in the past, thanks to your reconnecting us all those years ago, so he is the person I shall turn to first. Still, if you have advice to offer, I will appreciate it regardless._

That done, she looked over the letter one last time, and her hands moved towards an envelope, but then stopped. She noticed the sentence she wrote about the children, and became concerned. Not wanting to add any unnecessary worry, she added another postscript:

 _P.P.S. Don't worry about the children, they were discovered safe and sound with the help of a friend of their family, Richard Hargreaves. He's a bumbling, but charming fellow whom I'd met by coincidence some weeks before. It is a relief to know some people are legitimately generous and kind in this day and age._

With that, she was finally satisfied, and she folded up the paper into the envelope, stamped it, and set it aside so she could take it to the post office the next day.

For now, however, the day was drawing to a close, and Alice was exhausted.

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Alice had to fight to get out of bed the next morning, but somehow she managed.

After a breakfast of potatoes and bread (with a helping from the jars of preserves), she set out for the Telegram office, dropping her letter for Dr. Wilson in an anonymous post box on the way.

There was a significant line at the office, and as she stood in the line she had nothing to do but let her mind wander, and listen to odd conversations that she might overhear.

"...that odd exhibition in Highgate? Ridiculous..."

"Toby Russell's been caught at last. I swear..."

"...crime is definitely on the rise. Why, just last week..."

"...This whole world has gone to hell and back..."

"...sometimes makes you wonder if the Lord truly loves us..."

"...Parliament repealed the Contagious Diseases Acts, and completely ignored..."

"...Where will they go now? Fallen women can never rise again, in this life or the next..."

Upon hearing that phrase, Alice's features seized up in disgust. She turned to the side, and saw a black-suited gentleman sitting in a chair on the side, laughing with a friend as if his cruel statement was some form of joke.

"What do you know?" exclaimed Alice all of a sudden, turning several heads in her direction. For a rare instant, she didn't care that she was making a scene; some things needed to be said. So she stepped towards the gentleman and continued: "What sort of world do we live in that a mistake, sometimes made without choice, should condemn someone to misery for all eternity?"

"The real world, Missy." responded the gentleman in an irritated tone. "Something you obviously don't know about, so hold your tongue."

"Hold my tongue? And just accept the world is horrible, when there are ways to make it better if only someone would care enough to try?"

"That's just the thing – no one cares." said the gentleman's friend. "It demands too much sacrifice. The only way to get ahead in this world is to become a part of its corruption."

"That's not true! There are good people in this world, fighting to make a difference!"

"And the sooner they give up that fight, the better off they'll be. Now, I refuse to debate this any further, especially with an hysterical woman." And with that, the gentleman waved her off dismissingly.

Alice could barely contain her rage, but she realized he had a point, having finally noticed the unwanted attention she had drawn. She growled, and returned to the line...

But then, she heard another voice: "Excuse me, but I believe you were rather rude to that lady. I think you should apologize."

Alice turned towards the voice's source, but she couldn't see any. However, something about that voice made it quite familiar...

The rude gentleman responded: "It's no business of yours. And besides, she started it, she should apologize to me."

"Why? Just because you're a man?" the voice replied. "You look more like a gentleman, and I expected much more manners from someone of your station."

At last the source of the voice stepped forward, much to Alice's surprise:

"Richard?"

Richard Hargreaves turned to Alice, tipped his hat, and said: "How do you do, Alice?"

"...Very well, thank you."

"Is this man bothering you?" he asked.

"A little. He does have a point that I spoke out of turn, but it was in response to something offensive and cruel that he said to his friend. It was like he insulted me personally, even though he didn't. Despite my best efforts, I could not stay silent."

"You see?" said Richard, turning back to the rude gentleman. "Isn't that so much easier?"

The crowd started murmuring, saying things like "You know, he has a point...," "Who's more at fault, him or the lady?", and "He really should apologize."

Instead of taking the crowd's advice, the gentleman said: "Forget about it," and left along with his friend.

"And there goes someone who doesn't care for his reputation at all. I doubt he will be missed."

Everyone nodded in approval at Richard's comment, before returning to their business.

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"We've ran into each other three times in as many weeks. One would start to think you're obsessed." said Alice as she exited the telegram office with Richard beside her.

"You wouldn't believe it was pure coincidence?" Richard said with a slight laugh as they walked down the street together.

" Who would, Richard? London's a big city. And here we are, two complete strangers who were never properly introduced to each other, and yet for some reason we each know a considerable amount about each other. You're an inventor, a great friend of children but not with your family..."

"While you have these fantastical dreams that inspired one of my favorite books, and are quite keen with children yourself. How are they getting on, by the way?"

"...I wouldn't know, I quit yesterday." said Alice hesitantly.

Richard stopped walking in shock, forcing him to run to catch up with Alice when he finally thought of a response: "Why? You were doing so well!"

"From what you saw." said Alice bitterly. "When they ran away, I was in no position to do anything about it, when I should have been. I was in dreamland, taking tea with my imaginary friends. I couldn't be bothered."

"So you were asleep?" said Richard, almost hoping against hope.

"...no. It was a waking dream."

Richard took in a deep breath before he continued. "...You remember how I said my mother was fond of gossip? Last night, my mother made mention of rumours they heard some time ago, concerning an Alice Liddell. Rumours of madness, poverty, scandal, and a leech named Bumby."

Alice looked at him with concern, and nodded. "No sense denying it now." she said mournfully.

"They told me, that if I were to be seen with you again, they would be very disappointed." Richard said with a despondent sigh...

….only to perk back up, and say: "Of course, the fact that we're having this conversation should say a lot of how I regard their opinions."

Alice smiled, and was instantly curious as to why she smiled. "I don't know why I'm so relieved to hear that, Richard."

"Neither do I. I most certainly don't know you well enough to tell what you're thinking. But, with your permission, I would like to make an educated guess?"

With a cautious hesitation, Alice agreed to his request. Thus permitted, Richard said: "You want me as a friend. I would go so far as to say that, given what I've heard about you, you most certainly need friends. The last thing you need is someone denying you their friendship on account of some past embarrassment that clearly wasn't your fault."

The phrasing of his statement, while unintentional on his part, certainly sounded intentional to Alice. She knew she had to ask to make sure: "Do you really mean that?"

"Of course!" said Richard, with a slightly incredulous tone; "Why wouldn't I?"

Alice's expression hardened. "You almost sound like someone who's trying to sell me something. I've had it happen before – Dr. Bumby was almost as charming as you are, but not sincere in the slightest."

Richard felt crushed. "And you worry I might be another...like him?"

Alice nodded and said "Yes," further crushing his spirit.

"But," Alice added, "as you say, I do need friends. And I really shouldn't let my past hurt get in the way of my future happiness. So, I'm willing to take the chance that you really are as kind and clever and gentlemanly as you present yourself."

Instantly, the weight on Richard's heart was lifted. "Thank God. For a second I thought you hated me for no reason or something. I can't say how relieved I am."

"May I make an educated guess?"

Both Richard and Alice shared a laugh.

"Hahah... I needed that." Alice said after she caught her breath. "But in all seriousness, I think you're after validation for the choices you've made in life. Making inventions that few people want or need, distancing yourself from your family, befriending a madwoman...those aren't exactly the decisions respectable gentlemen make."

"That's...very insightful, actually. I've never thought of it like that."

The rest of their journey continued in peace until they reached the dingy, dirty building where Alice lived.

Richard gaped at the building in suprise. "You live here?"

When Alice nodded in the affirmative, Richard asked another question: "On your own?"

To his surprise, Alice nodded to that as well.

"Don't you...have anyone else? I mean...unemployed woman living by herself, in London?"

Alice smirked. "Are you starting to regret your decision yet?"

"No, not at all!" said Richard sheepishly. "If anything, I'm more concerned for your well-being than my reputation."

"Richard, it takes a lot to earn even the slightest bit of trust from me, as you well know. The less people I live with, the less that can take advantage of me. As for money, I have some savings left over from the books' publication to carry me in between situations. May not seem like much, and definitely not anything respectable, but it's been enough to keep me alive so far."

Richard nodded hesitantly, then said "Well, if you need anything, let me know next time we 'coincidentally' meet."

"Thank you, but it won't be for another week or so. I'm off to Oxford to visit Dodgson, see if he can help me first."

At this Alice turned to enter her flat, and Richard turned to leave...but then he stopped, and abruptly asked "Wait, did you say you were going to Oxford?"

"Yes. Very soon, in fact."

"All by yourself?"

Again, Alice said yes. At this, Richard shook his head. "No, that won't do. That won't do at all. You shouldn't travel alone."

Eager to get back inside, Alice said: "I appreciate the concern, but I'll be alright. I know how to avoid the unsavory types."

"Are you sure? Remember our second meeting? When I found you screaming at imaginary fire?"

Alice's eyebrows raised. "You're right. Wonderland has been unpredictable as of late. Well, more than usual..."

"Exactly. If you have another episode like that, in a public space, who knows what could happen? But what if you had a sympathetic eye or two nearby, to protect you?"

"And you want to be that eye?"

"If it's not too much trouble."

Alice walked back towards Richard. "Very well, let's look over any potential problems. First, what will your parents say if they find out?"

"Honestly, that's just a motivation to ensure they don't. I'll just say I'm going on holiday."

"Second, I'm not sure we're at the point where I trust you enough to be alone with me, whether or not I'm in Wonderland..."

"True," said Richard reluctantly, and he put his hand to his chin...but only for a moment, after which he snapped his fingers and said: "I could bring my Grandmother along! She's been looking for an excuse to get out of the house anyway. As a plus, she doesn't see eye-to-eye with my parents these days, there's no risk she'd expose us!"

Alice smiled in response. "Sounds perfect. And third, how soon could you be ready?"

"Early next morning if you'll have me."

Alice extended her hand. "Well, I guess it's an arrangement then."

They shook hands, and parted with smiles on both their faces this time.

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Getting on the train to Oxford without alerting Richard's parents was surprisingly easier than Alice had feared, with Winifred Hargreaves knowing exactly what to say to get preferential treatment from the station staff. The real problem was the memories Alice had associated with various modes of transportation, and she had to fight the urge to flee after their train turned out to have a whistle eerily similar to the Infernal Train that wreaked havoc on her memories all those years ago.

But after that, they got on board without any further difficulty, and they set off on the two hour ride to Oxford.

The carriage had separate compartments, and Alice's party got one all to themselves. Alice sat one one side, while Richard and Winifred sat on the other.

"Thank you for assisting us," Alice softly said to Winifred, struggling to maintain eye contact.

"Think nothing of it, my dear. A friend to Richard is a friend to me." said Winifred with a sweet smile.

The trip continued in awkward silence for a little while. Alice kept her gaze to herself for the most part, occasionally stealing glances at Richard and his grandmother. She couldn't decide whether or not she preferred the silence.

Eventually, it was Richard who broke the silence: "You know what I would have preferred? A boat trip up the Thames."

"That would have taken all day. You wouldn't have been able to sit still that long." Winifred chuckled.

"I'm not talking about sitting, I'm talking about observing." countered Richard, "Trains don't offer their passengers a good look at their engines. But on a steamship, I could see the boilers and paddles up close."

"Not too close I hope." said Winifred with a slight nudge. "Steam is quite hot, you know."

"Grandmother, I am quite familiar with steam. It's been in my thoughts for quite some time."

"How so?" she asked.

"How I could make it better." said Richard confidently. "In fact, I'd like to share an idea I just had right now."

"Oh really?"

"Picture this, Alice, Grandmother:" Richard said as he started gesturing, drawing up blueprints in his mind's eye: "A steam engine is only good as long as it has fuel. I've seen steam engines with flywheels, to keep the engine speed constant when the engine itself is not, or to help it start again. But I could go a step further. I know a physicist who's using electricity and magnetism to create mechanical energy. Suppose I attached a generator and this magnet contraption to the steam engine, so that the steam engine charges the magnet as well as drive the engine...then the stored electricity can power the magnet, and thus the engine, even when the steam engine isn't working! Redundant backup systems means little chance of failure when it matters most!"

The room was silent for a few seconds, as Richard's audience tried in vain to comprehend what he had just described.

Richard, at length, seemed to realize this: "Did I...oh dear, I've completely left you behind, haven't I?"

"...You do have a tendency to over-complicate things." said Winifred with a defusing laugh.

"But you do understand what I'm trying to do, right?"

"Richard, I know nothing about what makes machines work, so I'm not the person to ask for how to make them work better, I'm sad to say."

Richard apologized, and then turned to the other side of the cabin: "What about you, Alice? You've been quiet the-"

To his surprise, Alice raised a finger as if to ask for silence, never once looking up from her feet. Richard raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"Did you hear that?" Alice asked.

"No...What was it?" Richard asked in turn.

Alice didn't answer. Instead, she listened some more, and at length said: "Gesundheit."

"What is it? Did someone sneeze?" Richard asked again.

"What on earth are you talking about?" asked Winifred.

When Alice didn't respond, Richard cautiously moved over to her side of the compartment, and snapped his fingers in front of her face. No response.

"Richard, I don't think that was-" Winifred began to say, but Richard interrupted: "It's Alice. She's having another episode. This is why we're escorting her."

"Thank you, Sir Knight." said Alice in response, as she leaned into Richard without her face changing alignment or expression.

As her weight pressed into his side, Richard became uneasy. This was a compromising position, but he dared not move lest Alice fall over; so, he simply settled into his new position, and nervously said "A...always a pleasure, Alice."

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""'

"Always a pleasure, Alice." said the White Knight confidently. "There's nothing I love more than helping keep the peace."

"Last week you said that about inventing." said Alice.

"True... Speaking of which, there's a new invention behind the saddle."

Alice looked behind her, and found an umbrella flopping against the horse's haunch...with a teapot at the end of the handle. "See? After you're done walking in the rain, you can put the kettle on with the rainwater!"

"Interesting. But where will you get the tea? And the heat?"

The White Knight blushed in embarrassment, and paused as he tried to find an answer to a question he had obviously not considered...and in the end decided to change the subject. "Here we are!"

Indeed, the horse carrying Alice and the White Knight had arrived at the Looking Glass Line station for the Vale of Tears, currently a vast swamp. The station and the rail tracks were mounted on colorful sticks so as to be above the water that flowed from the crying effigies of Alice, but attendants were nonetheless mopping up after the occasional wave.

The horse stopped, and the White Knight was thrown into the water on the other side of the station. It was some time before he was able to return and help Alice off of the horse.

"Well," said Alice, "At least that's taken care of. Now to business."

She steeled herself, and walked to a farther platform, where the familiar Looking Glass Train waited to take its passengers, and where the distinctive shape of the Duchess was engaged in a heated argument with the Gryphons who crewed the train.

"Again, I say, Madam, you must leave your pepper-grinder in your luggage." protested the Younger Gryphon who served as the conductor. The sooty Elder Gryphon, who served as driver, stood at his side and nodded.

In response to the Gryphon's request, the Duchess clutched her ornate grinder closer to her chest, and said: "No! Not an option! You cannot deny seasoning to a seasoned...ACHOO!"

"But that would force every other passenger to sneeze the whole trip!" pleaded the Elder Gryphon. "I beg you, consider the feelings of others!"

"Nonsense!" scoffed the Duchess. "I mind my own business, and that's plenty for me. If everybody minded their own business, the world would be a better place!"

Alice approached the station-master, the Mock-Turtle, who had up to this point been impotently cowering behind a noticeboard. "How long has this been going on?"

"All day, Alice." sobbed the Mock-Turtle, "With no end in sight. There's been so many trains full of panicked persons since the Bandersnatch attacked; we can't afford a delay here, but...but...ACHOO!"

"Bless you. And leave it to me." Alice sighed.

She approached the Duchess, and attempted to get her attention: "Excuse me, your grace?"

"Alice? Oh, thank goodness! Finally you can help her/them see reason!" said both the Duchess and the Gryphons at the same time.

"They won't let you take your pepper-grinder onto the train, I presume?" she asked, to which they all nodded; as Alice expected them to, having heard the end of their conversation. "And get pepper all over the other passengers? I thought pepper was supposed to be used on food..."

At this, the Duchess's eyes widened and her oversized nostrils flared. "Of course! Why didn't I think of it myself? Gryphon, I would like my seating arrangements changed to the dining car at once."

"Ah...At once, Ma'am!" stammered the Younger Gryphon.

As the Duchess and Gryphon walked off to get her ticket changed, the Mock-Turtle clapped his flippers together and shouted: "Thank you, Alice! You've put us back on schedule!"

"I couldn't have done better myself!" said the White Knight. He made a motion to pat her on the back...

...but Alice stopped him. "It was an easy solution. You could have done it without me."

"What are you saying, Alice, of course we couldn't have! You're the only one the Duchess would-"

"Sir Knight," interrupted Alice, "I thank you for your attempt to make me feel useful and wanted, but I barely did anything to solve this crisis. I feel so out of place here, in my own mind...and I'm wondering if it really needs me anymore..."

The White Knight put a reassuring hand on Alice's shoulder, and opened his mouth to say something, before he was rudely interrupted...

...by the Duchess. "By the by, Alice, I wonder if you've heard anything from my son as of late?"

"I...can't say I have," said Alice with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you sure? Here, come look at this picture he sent me some time ago!"

After some brief hesitation, Alice obliged the Duchess' request, and walked over to look at the small portrait in the Duchess' hand. Her eyes started at the left side of the picture, and she saw a formally-dressed pig...

….but before she could form any opinions about the pig, her eyes fell upon the right side of the picture, and she became gripped in a crushing fear. For right next to the pig was an image of the very pigeon that had been tormenting her for so long.

"What is that?" she said, pointing to the bird with a shaking hand.

"Oh, that? That's my son's new friend, a most upstanding pigeon! The bane of serpents wherever they might be in Wonderland! And she's a charming houseguest to-"

The rest of the Duchess' words went unheard, as Alice saw the image begin to _move_.

"No! I'm not a serpent! Get away!" she pleaded with the two-dimensional pigeon as she backed away...

...and obliviously fell onto the tracks on the other side of the station! She hit her head on the metal track, and it took her a minute to regain her senses.

Senses which immediately picked up the whistle of an oncoming train, barreling towards her. With some concentration, she tried to pull herself off the tracks, but to no avail; the material of her right sleeve was trapped underneath a wooden sleeper!

"Help! Help!" she cried out. "I'm stuck!"

A host of animals rushed to the edge of the platform, desperately attempting to wave down the train, while the Duchess and the White Knight leaned down and grabbed her arm. Alice closed her eyes from the strain.

"Alice, Get up!"

"Alice!"

"Alice!"

"Alice!"

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"Alice! Alice! Wake up, Alice! You're dreaming again!" pleaded Richard, cradling Alice on the floor of the train. Winifred knelt beside him, holding Alice's wrist and gently tapping it.

Alice writhed and moaned in their grasp, reacting to pain from no visible source, completely deaf to anything they said. She jerked and twisted, but they refused to let go.

"Alice, please wake up! You're safe here!" pleaded Richard again.

"Oh dear, I hope this doesn't...wait, her eyes are open! That's a good sign!"

When Alice opened her eyes at last, her face relaxed from pain and fright to exhaustion and confusion. The world of Wonderland blurred out of view, replaced with the concerned faces of Richard and his grandmother.

"Richard..." she breathed out at last.

Richard smiled in relief. "Alice. You're back."

"Does this happen-" Winifred began to ask, but her train of thought was interrupted by Alice's next, sudden action:

She embraced Richard.

She wrapped her arms around him, pulled him close until their heads were right beside her, and clung to him with all her strength. She knew it wasn't proper to be so physical with someone who wasn't immediate family. But at that point she didn't care about what was or wasn't proper. She only cared for what was _real_ , and that was Richard.

Richard froze again, completely unsure as to how to respond, especially in front of his grandmother.

At length, Alice released Richard, and said: "I am so sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"It's alright, Alice." said Richard as they got back on their seat, "You warned me to expect strange behavior. I should have expected it."

"Thank you. And I'm sorry you had to see it, Mrs. Hargreaves."

Winifred, however, had an expression that was far from disappointed; in fact, she was delighted! "I am so happy for you two." she said.

Alice and Richard shot her a confused look, allowing her to continue: "You certainly found an interesting woman, Richard. Quite a strange woman, but that's alright. Opposites attract, as they say."

Richard and Alice were flabbergasted. "Grandmother," Richard stammered, "...I don't...we're not like that at all!"

"That's such a shame. You two are perfect for each other! Why, I can see it right now: Long walks down the riverside, stolen kisses, a quiet wedding in a modest church ..."

Alice blushed, and hid her face. "Maybe Wonderland isn't so bad after all. Maybe I left too soon."

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

 _Knock Knock!_

The brisk knock on the Renfrew household's door was seemingly ignored for a long time. Before Vastra had a chance to worry, however, the door was answered by none other than Mr. Renfrew himself, with clothing in a less than respectable condition. His eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, and he favored his right arm.

Madame Vastra curtseyed. "Good afternoon. Is Mr. Renfrew home?"

"I am Mr. Renfrew." he said frantically. "What do you want?"

"I was hoping we could have a few words."

"Only a few. I need to get back to my duties. My children need to be watched."

Vastra took note of his odd comment, but forced herself to remain on topic: "Is your governess, Alice, within?"

George Renfrew's face hardened. "No. She left. Said she couldn't watch the children anymore. And the maid couldn't either, so I dismissed her as well. Now I've got to take care of them myself. Teach them to never run away again. A few nights locked in the nursery ought to scare that out of them for good."

Vastra's face narrowed. "Locked up...? Mr. Renfrew, that is positively barbaric. I would never subject my children to such-"

"I don't need parenting advice from a Silurian." interrupted Mr. Renfrew, suddenly confrontational.

Vastra was caught off guard for a brief moment. "How did he know..." she mumbled to herself, before responding. "Very well, what can you tell me about Alice then?"

"I thought Miss Liddell was good with the kids at first. They loved her and she loved them. But she let them run away. She failed me, and she knew it. I'm not sorry to see her go."

"Thank you." said Vastra with a curtsy. "Now, may I please see your right arm?"

"You're wasting my time." said Mr. Renfrew before he rudely slammed the door in Vastra's face.

Vastra walked away, mumbling to herself: "It's subtle, but its clearly getting worse, and adding more parts of itself to its victims. Where did it draw its strength from?"

No sooner had she left the outer gates of Mr. Renfrew's property than she was greeted by Jenny. "How was it?" she asked.

"Both good and bad, my dear Jenny." Vastra replied. After Jenny gave her a confused look, she elaborated: "It knows we're on to it. Somehow, a man I never met before knew one of the nicknames for my species. But on the other hand, I know a little bit more about its carrier.

"Really? Like what?"

"Her last name is Liddell. Plus, Mr. Renfrew was the first to compliment Alice Liddell, called her a worthwhile governess. That is until the kids ran away, and she left because she blamed herself. But anyway, was the maid more forthcoming?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact." beamed Jenny. "She said Alice found the Renfrew kids with the help of a man named Richard. Before she was sacked, the kids told her they thought the two were in love."

"That is good news indeed," said Vastra, "if it's accurate. Because if so, we can find one by finding the other."

Jenny beamed with pride at compliments from her lover and mistress. She smiled from ear to ear, and curtseyed in thanks.

Instead of returning the gesture, however, Vastra dragged her along the street. "We mustn't dilly-dally. We'd best find this 'Richard' before it becomes too much of a distraction."

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A pasty-faced gentleman greeted Alice and Richard at the door of an Oxford University office.

"Y...Yes, yes? Who is it?" he asked as he pushed his face out into the open hallway, answering his own question in the process. "Oh, Al-...Alice! You're...quite early! And...and who is this fellow?"

"Dodgson, meet Richard Hargreaves. Richard, meet Charles Lutwidge Dodgson."

* * *

I think this problem might be a little out of Dodgson's depth, but who knows?

Are you liking the story so far?


	7. The Golden Afternoon

Disclaimer: I do not own American McGee's Alice or Doctor Who, properties of EA and BBC respectively.

* * *

Chapter 7: The Golden Afternoon

* * *

"Dodgson, meet Richard Hargreaves. Richard, meet Charles Lutwidge Dodgson."

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Dodgson." said Richard as he awkwardly extended his hand. "I'm a...new friend of Alice. And this is my grandmother, Winifred Hargreaves."

Dodgson gingerly shook Richard's hand. He spoke enthusiastically, but struggling to speak through his stammer; "It's...it's always a pus...pur...p-p-pleasure, to see Alice make new...friends... Heaven knows she n...needs them."

Richard nodded as Dodgson released his hand. Winifred opened her mouth to speak, but Alice interrupted:

"I apologize for coming by on such short notice," said Alice to her old friend, "but these are some very inconvenient circumstances."

"T...Tell me about it," said Dodgson with a nervous laugh, "My...hesitation's b-been rather annoying these p...past few days. P-plus, I have...ve not seen mm...much success from... _The Hunting of the Snark_ , nor from the re...repe...new publishing of _Phantasmagoria_. I...I'm st-st-st-starting to wonder if...if the ss..success of the _Wonderland_ books was...due to, luck or something else."

"I hope not," sighed Alice.

"Wait a second," said Richard suddenly. "You were talking about..."

Alice connected the dots almost instantly, and laughed. "I should have mentioned: Lewis Carroll is Dodgson's pen name. He's the one who turned my dreams into fiction."

At this, Richard shook Dodgson's hand once again, this time more passionately: "This is wonderful! I couldn't get enough of your work! I can hardly believe.."

"Y-y-yes, but I har...hardly believe I de...deserve all the...credit. It was...it was Alice..ce's story after all."

"How else do you think they became such fast friends?" said Winifred with a smirk.

"No argument there." said Alice. After all, their very first meeting involved discussions of her dreamworld.

Dodgson smiled, then narrowed his face as he tried to organize his words. "Well...come inside? We can...discuss s...sensitive issues aw...way from...you know..."

Looking inside, it was quite a fancy office: Leather couches, bright gas lamps, transparent drapes, at least three bookshelves, oil paintings on the walls, and an ornate desk at one corner. The desk was the only disorganized part of the whole room, covered with loose papers of all sorts: Student papers, poetry, mathematical scribbles, unanswered letters, and much more.

Immediately after they entered his office and closed the door, Alice and Dodgson sat down on opposite sides of his desk, and he resumed speaking. "So, what b-b-brings you here today?...Your t-telegram said you'd...lost your job."

Alice took a deep breath, and began: "I was working as governess at a gentleman's household, when I had another episode. I still don't know what triggered it, but I somehow wound up having tea with the Butterfly and the Wasp in a Wig. When I came to, the children had all run away. I got after them, hounded by the Jabberwock telling me it was hopeless; and it certainly was, as I only found them with Richard's help."

Richard smiled as Dodgson shot him a surprised glance.

"So, y...you did find them? Were they well?" Dodgson asked, to which Alice nodded. "Th...that's a relief. ...So what then?"

"After we got back, I blamed myself for letting them go, and I punished myself by quitting the job. When I got back to my apartment, I had another episode; the Bandersnatch and Jubjub Bird had destroyed the Hatter's Domain, and...I couldn't fight them. I really tried, but I couldn't. My spirit and self-image are in tatters, and everyone in Wonderland is panicking. What's worse, I can't handle this sort of problem on my own anymore. I need help."

The room was silent as everyone took in Alice's words, and she waited patiently for advice.

Eventually, Dodgson spoke up: "H...how did the b-b-b-Bandersnatch and Jubjub Bird d...defeat you?"

"They took my Vorpal Blade away and hid it."

"Th...That's odd. I...thought the...Vorpal b-Blade couldn't be t-t-touched by anyone but y..ye...you!"

"So did I. Evidently, I thought wrong."

Dodgson nodded...and then stood up, and walked back around his desk. "I...think I'd like to kne...ng..know, a lit...little more ab-b-out what's...going on. Would you...be willing to...try...the studio?"

Richard and Winifred were confused, but Alice put herself deep in thought, remembering the sessions she had in Dodgson's photography studio, after she moved in with him...

...and eventually she said: "Very well. Lead the way, Dodgson."

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

In contrast to his comfy office, Dodgson's studio was as uncomfortable as could be, but not uninteresting. The only source of color in the room, which occupied the attic of the church where Dodgson worked, were the backdrop sheets that were arranged in a corner. In terms of furniture, there were brown chairs, stools, tables and bedsheets, and braces to help subjects sit up straight while they waited to be photographed (the notoriously uncomfortable kind). The rest of the room was full of lighting equipment, mirrors of various shapes and sizes, and of course Dodgson's camera. With these elements, Dodgson could photograph his subjects in whatever setting they desired, and even get some illusory work with the mirrors.

Of course, Alice never participated in photography herself, at least not since she was a small child. She remembered how her father's passion for photography (one of the reasons he was such fast friends with Dodgson) contributed to their disaster, and so had no taste for it.

What she did instead, however, proved invaluable. It was here, after all, that Dodgson provided her a safe space to easily travel to Wonderland, using the mirrors and flashes as pushes. They developed the idea shortly after she moved in, after the Doctor released her into his care. With this method, she was able to quiet the chaos within herself, and task the White Queen's forces with keeping order in her absence, limiting the times when a hallucination might interfere with her daily life. Even though it was a few years since she last used this method to intentionally trigger an episode, both she and Dodgson were still familiar with the elements.

They arranged the mirrors into a half-circle, and set a chair facing them. Behind the chair, they set a frame, which would hold the background.

At this point, Dodgson said: "S...so, I think a vm-vi-...v-volcano, would b-b-be a good...good place to st...start."

"Why?" asked Alice.

"B...because, your J..Jab...berwock likes hot pl-places. If...if its'...spawn are...causing your...problems, then th...the Jabberwock is the source of the p-p-problem. G..go to the...source of the problem. Find out what ...what you can."

Alice tilted her head in disbelief. "You want me to _talk_ to the _Jabberwock_?"

"I...if you really ….can't fight, y-y-you can bring the W...White ...I...White Queen's force...s along." replied Dodgson. "I'm t-t-terribly sorry, but unt...until we know more about the p...problem, th..ere's not much I can do to help."

Alice sighed. "I know. It's just...I feel like I can't do this on my own anymore. You gave me the chance for a better life all those years ago. Now it's slipping away, and I feel responsible, and at the same time feel that I shouldn't be responsible. I feel so...helpless!"

As Alice struggled to hold back her tears, Dodgson struggled to find an appropriate response; eventually, he spoke up with: "Very few p-p-people get to ch...choose their fate. W-w-we can only react as... best we can. I do want to help, Alice. But first..."

"...I must help you. I understand."

A few seconds of awkward silence followed, before Alice sat down in the chair. Dodgson followed up by setting up a pair of stands containing flash lamps connected to a fuse. Then, he added the most important feature: he draped a large painted cloth over the frame behind her. In the darkened room, Alice couldn't make out most of the details, but the prevalence of red and black certainly suggested the volcano that Dodgson had mentioned. A slight scuffing sound let Alice know that Dodgson had placed another flash lamp behind the cloth backdrop.

"...All set up." said Dodgson. "L...lifeboats at the ready?"

"Yes," said Alice with a shaky voice, as she tightly gripped the sides of her dress.

"Then... cast off."

There was the sound of a striking match. A low hiss followed, the only sound to pierce the thick silence. Alice braced herself as she waited.

And waited.

And waited...

BANG!

And finally, her senses were assaulted as all three flash lamps went off at once. The two positioned at her sides erased the rest of the room, limiting her perception to solely the mirrors in front of her, and the background reflected in it...which now glowed in all its multicolored intensity as the flash lamp shone behind it.

The details of the background bounced off the mirror and imprinted themselves in Alice's mind: A landscape of ash and heat-blackened stones; Rivers of molten rock glowing dull orange; A sky full of smoke, rising from a distant mountain.

And while this was happening, the heat from the flash lamps pressed in on her from every direction... except in front of her.

A blast of hot air thrust her out of her seat, and into the mirror, which she slid through as if it weren't there. She tumbled through empty space, letting out a brief shriek as she tried to maintain her bearings. Seconds later, she landed on an ashy surface, with heat all around her and a sulfurous smell permeating the air.

As it had so many times before, Dodgson's setup had sent her to Wonderland once again.

"Another happy landing," she mused to herself as she brushed off the ash. Then, she regarded the volcano: unlike in Dodgson's background, the rivers were not composed of molten stone, but molten steel that flowed down cast-iron channels.

Furthermore, the peak of the volcano wasn't just spewing black smoke, but bright blue lightning as well.

"A convergence of mechanical waste and total destruction. Just the place I'd expect to find a Jabberwock. However, I dare not go farther without escort..."

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Dodgson carefully closed the door, and turned to his other two guests: "It...It's done. She'll b...be in there fore...for a...while, and we should...should...should not dis...dist-turb her unless...unless she calls for a …. lifeline."

Richard huffed. "Alright. It's all on her. But if she needs me, I'll be there."

"Th...th..thank you," said Dodgson. "I need to g...go get my less...lesson plans. Y...you get first...watch, I suppose."

Dodgson turned the corner, and his footsteps were heard growing softer and softer as he descended the stairs, leaving Richard and his grandmother sitting outside the studio.

"I still wish there was more we could do to help." sighed Richard.

"Indeed. And the worst part of it is that it's a thankless job." said Winifred in a sympathetic tone. "Most people, my son included, would rather she be out of sight and out of mind. If forced, he may donate to a charitable foundation for poor women, but that's about it. If others were to see us doting on her like this...oh, I can't imagine what they'd say."

"Gran, you know I don't particularly care for the opinions of my father or the so-called 'respectable crowd.'"

"True, but you do still care what others think of you. You craft an image that others see; like Thomas in a way, but also very different."

"How so?"

Winifred leaned slightly closer. "You're always trying to sell your latest invention. You want the whole world to know you're an intelligent, trustworthy, hard-working businessman, or else no one would buy from you. And from what I've seen of you, everything you do outside the walls of your house is carefully calculated to project and maintain that image for everyone you meet. Except...for this."

Winifred punctuated her statement by pointing to the studio door separating them from Alice.

"What's your point, Gran?" asked Richard, defensively.

"People would laugh at you for devoting your time to helping this woman. Far below your station, and a madwoman as well. But you don't care. For once, you're not focused on projecting an image to everyone...your sole focus is on her. The woman you love."

In an instant, Richard's face flushed a deep crimson. "Gran, I thought we already discussed this! Alice and I aren't..."

"I'm not saying you are, Richard. What I'm saying is that you want to be. And I think she does as well."

"Alice and I are just friends!"

Winifred let out a silent chuckle. "The way you hold each other as you walk down the streets say otherwise."

Richard buried his face in his hands. "Gran, you read too many of those romance novels. Real life doesn't work out like that! The real world doesn't have love at first sight, or easily-approved marriages between different classes..."

"Couldn't the same be said of hookah-smoking caterpillars? Duchesses with pepper addictions and pigs for children? Mock Turtles, Gryphons, and Jabberwocks?"

As Richard struggled for a response, Winifred continued: "Around that girl, fantasy becomes reality. A life with her would be far from dull. And given the stories she told of the Renfrew kids, she'd be a good mother as well. I think she's a good fit for you, at least."

Richard did not respond. In fact, he refused to look his grandmother in the eye for almost a minute of awkward silence...

...until he sighed, and asked: "Very well. Let's assume I do wish we were more than just friends. How do you propose I win her heart?"

"That's the spirit!" Winifred said as she joyfully clasped her hands together. "What ideas did you have?"

"That's the problem, Gran. I don't think she's ready to let anyone in like that. Her past is full of hurt, heartbreak, and all sorts of struggles. Fate has worn her down to her breaking point several times over, and I'm afraid it's left her...delicate; And if I get too close, I'll frighten her away."

Richard swore he could see his grandmother visibly deflate, as her enthusiasm left her.

"That," he continued, "is why I won't give any romantic overtures. I don't want to ruin the friendship we have right now."

"I see," Winifred sighed, and she turned away...but then she gave him one last look, and asked: "But if she shows an interest in you...what then?"

Richard turned away, deep in thought...and mumbled:

"That...would be nice."

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""'

Alice trudged up the mountain, flanked by a sizable force: four Pawns, a Rook, a Bishop, and the Knight. Their clay feet sometimes struggled to find purchase in the crumbling layers of ash, and they slipped many times (especially the Knight). But eventually, they found themselves close to the volcano's peak, before an elaborately decorated entrance.

Stone idols of the Jabberwock, JubJub Bird, Bandersnatch, and other monstrosities lined a titanic stone archway that seemed less carved into the mountain than it suggested the mountain formed around _it_. The archway led into a dark tunnel, illuminated only by the rivulets of fiery metal which lined the walls. All along the volcanic rock of the tunnel walls, colorful messages were written in a variety of languages, not all of which Alice knew.

The ones she could read composed of phrases such as _ALICE'S FAULT_ and _WORTHLESS_ and _NO PAST, NO FUTURE_ , and other simple things that nonetheless made Alice's skin crawl.

"We're in the right place. Be on your guard."

"Of course, Alice." nodded the Knight. And with that, the small army stepped over the threshold...

….and immediately heard a scream echo down the vast hallway.

"Someone's in trouble!" exclaimed the White Knight.

Alice expected the crew to run in, but instead they waited...as the Knight handed Alice a rope, tied to both himself and his lance.

"Hold on!" he said, as he threw his lance forward...

….only for it to clatter harmlessly onto the ground.

"What? It was supposed to sprout wings and carry us there! Did I get it wrong?"

" **Oh forget about it!** " moaned the Rook in frustration.

Reluctantly, the Knight picked up his lance, and the whole group charged in. The hall was quite long, and they heard several more screams as they rushed through to the end.

At last they exited the tunnel, and found themselves in the Jabberwock's lair. The Knight shouted: "Hold it right there you...monsters?"

His voice trailed off as he took in his surroundings. Within the vast cavern, surrounded by rocky walls and rivers of molten metal, there was a massive green field! Trees grew out of the rocks, creating a considerable canopy! There was even a small pond off in the distance! A black metal chandelier illuminated the cavern from on high, dangling the most entrancing multicolored flames.

But most shocking of all were the inhabitants: Snarks jumped in and out of the pool, Boojums floated around the edges of the cavern, and other lesser Jabberwock-spawn crawled all over. And on the green field in the center of the monster-filled cavern were the most monstrous of them all: the half-mechanical monsters known as the Jabberwock, the Bandersnatch, and the JubJub Bird...

….playing croquet!

" _Be silent! I'm concentrating."_ bellowed the Bandersnatch, as its long furry claws gently straightened out the flamingo it was using as a mallet...and within a minute, it swung, striking the hedgehog that served as the ball.

The hedgehog let out a sharp shriek, very much like the ones the group heard down the hall, as it careened through the arches made out of Boojums. It rolled through two arches before it came to a stop.

Then, it uncurled itself and turned towards the Jabberwock. "How many times do I have to tell you, not so hard!" it said, in a voice not unlike a stern matron; "And turn me the other way, unless you want my spines to dig into the ground!"

The Bandersnatch growled in frustration. _"I apologize. I must be more out of practice than I first realized."_

"S'not all bad!" piped up the flamingo in its claws, "Y' actually managed to put a little spin in yer shot! You'll get there!"

At this, the Bandersnatch growled in a manner resembling laughter. _"Of course."_

As the scene unfolded, Alice and the White soldiers stared in slack-jawed amazement. This was nothing like they were expecting.

It was the Jabberwock, who landed next to them with a hiss of steam, that broke the silence: **"I suppose you have a good reason for interrupting our practice game?"**

"P...practice game?" said the confused Knight.

"Of course!" squawked the JubJub Bird. "The Red Queen's hosting a tournament, and we're invited! We need to be at our best for our old benefactor."

" **Our days of rampaging on the Red Queen's orders may be behind us, but she ever remains our closest friend. It feels...good to associate with old friends from time to time. Doesn't it, Alice?"**

Instead of answering the Jabberwock's question, Alice said: "I was under the impression that friendship was a foreign concept to beings born of guilt, self-loathing and fear."

" **Not exactly. You can – and have – let down your friends and family in their times of need. It is because of your feelings of friendship that guilt arises."**

The Bandersnatch set its flamingo down, and slunk over to Alice. _"You have always cared about others more than yourself. You always blame yourself when others suffer misfortune...and more often than not, it's justified. That's why friendship is quite familiar with self-loathing as well."_

"And you always worry about hurting your friends again, or becoming a burden to them...especially now, when you feel that you cannot move forward without their help. There's plenty of fear to be found there."

"...I see." said Alice. "So of course you had all the power you needed to destroy the Hatter's Domain."

The half-mechanical monsters regarded her coolly, and looked at each other, their glowing eyes betraying an emotion Alice did not expect: confusion.

" **What are you talking about?"**

"I'm talking about how your spawn, the Bandersnatch, and your cousin the JubJub Bird, tore the Hatter's Domain asunder, and stole the Vorpal Blade so I couldn't fight back."

" _Impossible. I've been right here for the longest time."_ said the Bandersnatch.

"As have I." said the JubJub Bird.

"But I was right there! I cut off your claws-" Alice began, right as she noticed that all of the Bandersnatch's fish-hook claws were still attached to its front paws, as if they'd never been removed.

" _I'm pretty sure I'd remember something like that. Painful memories are the hardest to forget, as you know."_

" **Are you really so lost you turn to baseless accusations? You know that will get you nowhere."**

"Don't think you're blameless, Jabberwock!" snapped Alice. "You were there when I was searching for the Renfrew children, telling me to give up! And when I refused you set me aflame!"

" **Yet another lie. I've haven't spoken to you since the White Queen came to power. And furthermore, I haven't tried to hurt you since the Weeping Angel's invasion. The White Queen's soldiers made certain of that."**

At this, Alice turned towards the assembled soldiers. "This is outrageous. You cannot possibly believe them, after all the damage-"

The Bishop interrupted her: "Actually...I think I can."

This response caught Alice completely off-guard. "What?"

In response, the Bishop tapped its staff on the ground, and glowing lights arose from the steam vents arising from all three monsters, and floated down towards the soldiers. They were Bolterflies, with a peculiar assortment of glowing crystals dangling from their metallic bodies.

"Through those crystals," explained the Bishop, "we tracked their movements. We've followed them as they traveled to this place, Queensland, and back...but never to the Hatter's Domain. Nested inside them as they are, they cannot be removed. If they say they were not involved, I cannot dispute it."

With that, the Bishop commanded the Bolterflies to return to their original positions, inside the engines that fueled the Jabberwock, JubJub Bird, and Bandersnatch.

"Impossible..." breathed Alice. "There must be some mistake..."

" **It wouldn't be the first time you mis-identified a threat to your sanity."** huffed the Jabberwock.

Alice barely heard it, as she struggled to make sense of this chain of events: "But if you were here...and the damage was real...You had to subvert the crystals somehow..."

Then, suddenly, it hit Alice. "Then again, you were a great deal less verbose, and more hostile, than I've known you in the past...all of you...What if you are telling the truth?"

" _Then you're wasting your time here."_

"Time in which our impostors could wreak further havoc on your mind."

At first, Alice felt like agreeing with them...but then she said: "No, not impostors. The shock of that day...I must have created whole copies of you, from the sheer strength of my emotions!"

She collapsed to the ground, beating at the ashy floor with impotent strikes; "Once again I am my own worst enemy! When will I learn that every time I try to make things better I only make things worse? When will I ever learn?...I am doomed to lose the war with my own mind!"

The Jabberwock leaned in closer, so close that Alice could smell its sulfuric breath...and it said: **"Can't find your foe? No surprise. You should always expect a serpent to change its skin."**

Alice shot back up. "S...serpent?"

" **Yes. Pigeon! Get in here!"**

The flames in the chandelier flared, and the pigeon flew in from the top of the cavern. "You won't get away this time, Serpent!"

"No! I'm not a serpent, I swear! Please leave me alone!" wailed Alice, crawling backwards.

"Never! I must protect this world! I must destroy you!"

As the Pigeon dived downwards, rapidly closing the distance, Alice backed up as far as she could...up against the cavern wall.

She looked around for a way out...and shrieked: "Lifeline! Lifeline!"

-,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,-

"Lifeline! Lifeline!"

"That's Alice!" exclaimed Richard; "She's in trouble again!"

Without a moment to spare, Richard threw open the door and rushed into the studio. He saw Alice sitting on the chair before the mirrors, fear frozen on her face.

Richard grabbed her by the hand. "Alice, I'm here! Your lifeline's here! Get up!"

Dodgson and Winifred followed him inside, as he continued: "Come on Alice, get up!

-,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,-

" _Get up!"_ came a ghostly voice.

Alice obeyed, and looked around again...and this time, she saw it: the exit for the Jabberwock's Lair had transformed into a mirror, and a hand reached through it.

With only seconds to react, Alice rolled to the side, barely dodging the Pigeon's attack. She scrambled to her feet, and threw herself into the mirror...

-,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,-

...and she collapsed right on top of Richard.

"Oof!" blurted Richard as her weight briefly crushed him.

Alice rolled off of him, and caught her breath. "Sorry..." she moaned.

"...It's alright. You're alright now."

Dodgson and Winifred helped them to their feet. "G-g-goodness ….gracious, Alice! ….What happened?" asked Dodgson.

Alice opened her mouth to speak, but then stopped..and several seconds later, she moaned:

"I...I don't know."

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

The Isis was calm this time of year; so calm, in fact, that some places seemed to stand still. Were it not for the boats moving downstream without being rowed, it would seem as if the river would never make it further south, where it would transform into the Thames. But as long as there has been an Oxford, the Isis has flowed; and as far as any Englishman was concerned, that's the way it always will and should be.

Still, those who went out with boats always brought oars, and always with company. In the progress-driven world of England, even leisure served a purpose: reinforcing social connections, and refreshing mind and body for the following days' toil.

Such was especially the case for the boating quartet of Dodgson, Winifred, Richard, and Alice. But as Dodgson could tell, such purpose seemed to be lost on Alice. She hadn't smiled since she got back from Wonderland the previous day, and despite Dodgson's assumption, the boating trip wasn't helping.

"Alice, p...please try to re...a...relax. You've b-b-been through a lot...a lot...of stress of late."

Alice sighed. "I know. I just wish I could have learned more from the Jabberwock. That beast knows what's happening, I'm certain of it."

"That ma...may be, but you can't... go back...as you are. Take it fr...from someone who c-can't speak clearly without r...rehearsing. Everyone needs …. leisure time."

Alice nodded, but still said: "He knows why the pigeon is attacking me. Maybe where the real serpent is..."

As she spoke, she looked at her hands...briefly gaining an expression of unfamiliarity. As if, for an instant, she felt like her own body was not her own... this expression was immediately followed by one of worry, one that did not escape the other passengers.

"Alice, dearie, you mustn't dwell on your troubles all the time." said Winifred. "Try thinking of the good things in your life."

Winifred used her eyes to point to her grandson, busy at the oars. To her disappointment, Alice showed no visible reaction.

"This doesn't really seem to be doing much for her, Mr. Dodgson." said Winifred with a sigh.

"Th...that's a shame. She told me she loves b...boating, and we we...went on s...so many pleasant outings when she was m-m...my lodger. I thought...I thought this would help."

Alice took a deep breath, then said: "So did I. Perhaps I've associated this with Wonderland too much. It was here, after all, where it all began."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Richard.

"It was on t...trips like this, wh...when she was a ...child, that she...she first shared her dreams with m..me, and her sister."

Richard's eyes widened slightly. "And where you first got the ideas for the novels."

Dodgson nodded. Then, he took several breaths, and spoke. "It was in several sessions. The dreams were d...disconnected at first, and not as linear as the novels would su...suggest. Young Alice sometimes repeated p...p-parts of her favorite dreams...or w...was it ...the other way around?"

Dodgson looked at Alice, who couldn't help but crack a smile; a victory, however slight. Satisfied, he took some more breaths and continued: "An-anyway, the idea of making a novel came soon, but after the Liddell fire I p-p-put the idea to rest. It...it was after I met Alice ag...again, in need of money, that I got... to work, organizing these d-d-dreams into a narrative. It wasn't easy."

Dodgson stopped to center himself again, and Alice joined the conversation: "There were plenty of things that didn't make it into the novel. The Torch Gnomes, the Origami Ants, the Insane Children... and we both agreed sensitive readers would probably not want to hear about the Dollmaker or the Weeping Angel."

"I...wanted to include the b-b-bit with the...Wasp in a wig. But...but Tenniel refused to...to illustrate it."

Richard, who up until then had been sitting in rapt attention, tilted his head. "Really? He drew a caterpillar, a lion and a unicorn, and living playing cards...why did he draw the line at a wasp in a wig?"

Dodgson shrugged. "To this day, I...I don't know!"

Everyone on the boat shared a laugh. Alice, however, was the first to stop, lacking the energy required to continue.

But then, she looked at Richard, still enjoying himself despite all the trouble she's put him and the others through...and she found the strength within her to smile.

Then Winifred smiled at her in turn, adding in a knowing wink, and Alice looked away to hide her blush.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

At length, the sun began to set, and Dodgson's party returned to the Christ Church where he lived and worked. After they closed the door, an exhausted Winifred sat herself down on the nearest chair and started fanning herself.

"Thank you, Dodgson," said Richard; "this was a fine diversion."

"You're we..welcome. I only wish it h...helped Alice more." said Dodgson as he sadly watched Alice climb up the stairs to her guest room with nary a word.

With a sigh, Richard followed her, leaving Dodgson all alone with Winifred on the ground floor.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Winifred decided to take advantage of this situation. "Pity those two. If only-" she started to say, before she was rudely interrupted...

...by a series of insistent knocks on the front door.

"Wha...wh...who could th-that be?" asked Dodgson, only to be answered with more knocks.

" _Please, do be more gentle. We don't want to break the door down!_ " said a feminine voice from outside.

" _I know he's in there. And she's with him! I'm through being gentle with that boy!_ " said another voice...one that Winifred instantly recognized.

"Oh no," she said under her breath, as the knocking continued.

Heedless of the warning, Dodgson stepped up to the door, and waited until there was a pause in the knocking before opening it.

What he saw was a middle-aged gentleman in a black suit, a similarly-aged woman in a silken blue dress, a much younger woman in a maidservant's outfit, and a strange figure in a violet cloak, with a face-concealing lace veil.

"Good evening." said a feminine voice from the cloaked figure. "Am I addressing Charles Lutwidge Dodgson?"

"Y...y-y-yes, of course."

"My name is Madame Vastra, and this is Jenny, and Thomas and Meredith Hargreaves. Now, where's Alice?"

* * *

The storm has come! Anything could happen! Come back in a few weeks to find out what!

Remember to fav/follow/review!


	8. The Serpent

Disclaimer: I do not own American McGee's Alice (EA) or Doctor Who (BBC).

* * *

Chapter 8: The Serpent.

* * *

"My name is Madame Vastra, and this is Jenny, and Thomas and Meredith Hargreaves. Now, where's Alice?"

It took a flabbergasted Dodgson nearly a minute to come up with any suitable response. "Er, I...I...I-I'm so-s-sorry, what?"

"We're looking for Alice Liddell," repeated Vastra, "and believe her to be in here. Could you bring us to her?"

Again Dodgson went practically silent. Between his stutter, his shock, and his uncertainty of Vastra's intentions, all he could say was "I...I...I..."

Thomas lost patience, and boldly pushed his way inside, yelling "Richard? I know you're in here! Show yourself!"

Winifred shot up from her chair in indignant shock. "Thomas?" she asked in bewilderment.

Thomas shot her an icy look. "Mother. I should have known." he muttered. Then he yelled again: "Richard? The police are here! Come here this instant!"

Winifred angrily yanked her son aside. "Shame on you! Calling the police for a private affair! I know I raised you better than this! Besides, Richard is within his rights to-"

"Shut up, you hag!" Thomas snapped; "This is none of your concern! Richard!"

Meredith joined in: "Richard! It's us or the police!"

Winifred reeled for a second, receiving such vitriol from her own family. She swiftly realized she would get nowhere arguing with him, and so turned her attention to the two women in the door. "Are you really with the police?" she asked.

Vastra remained silent, but Jenny answered: "She's technically a private detective, but we do work with Scotland Yard when they ask for our help."

Winifred's disbelief at the notion of female detectives was quickly overwhelmed by her outrage. "...Then how can you stand for this...this..."

"If it puts your mind at ease," said Vastra in a condescending manner, "Richard is not our target. He was simply our lead to our true quarry, Alice."

Winifred continued to glare daggers at Vastra. "And what, pray tell, is your business with her?"

"You'll find out soon enough." said Vastra as she extended her tongue out from under her veil (and for a split second, Winifred could swear it was _forked_ ), paused, and exclaimed: "They're upstairs!"

Thomas and Meredith wasted no time, and rushed up the stairs followed by Dodgson, Winifred, Vastra, and Jenny.

The last in the party found Thomas struggling with a door, yelling Richard's name.

"Thomas, stop! This is madness!" pleaded Winifred.

Thomas acted like he didn't even hear her. "I gave you a chance to make things right, and you spat it in my face! When I get my hands on you, I'll...I'll..."

Dodgson jumped in, and pulled Thomas away from the door. "STOP!" he yelled.

"Stay out of this! This is family business!"

"Th-th-th-that is my...my darkroom!" Dodgson countered, anger showing through his stutter. "I won'...won't let...you...you...t-trample all over my...f-f-photographs!"

"Besides," interjected Madame Vastra as she leaned against the wall.

"Besides what?"

"They're actually in here."

With that, Vastra pulled on the door to her left, revealing Dodgson's office. Inside, Richard stood in the far corner, shielding Alice with his body.

"Stay back!" yelled Richard.

Undaunted, Thomas stepped into the office. "Richard, we expressly told you to end your friendship with this woman before it became an embarrassment to the family. You've defied us one too many times."

"I don't care!" Richard snapped in reply. "I won't let you hurt her! Disinherit me, shun me, hurt me all you like, but leave Alice alone!"

Thomas growled. Then, he lunged forward and raised his fists. Richard flinched, closed his eyes, and raised his own arms for defense...

….but the blow never came! Richard opened his eyes and saw his father all ready to strike, but all the fury had left his face to be replaced with shock and horror!

Still in a defensive stance, Richard asked: "Pa?"

"...Gah!" Thomas screamed. Then he turned away from Richard and punched the wall, before sinking to his knees.

"I...I can't do it." he said. "Even after everything you've done, I still can't bring myself to hurt you." As he spoke, the energy and rage left him and he began to sob.

"Pa..." Richard started to say.

Before he could say anything else, however, Meredith walked in and knelt beside her husband. "It's alright, Thomas. It just goes to show that you still love him. He is our son after all."

Thomas held back his sobs long enough to say "Thank you, my dear."

Richard regarded them with a mixture of pity and resentment, still refusing to unclench his fists. Then, he looked at the two other strangers in the doorway as they, along with Dodgson and Winifred, entered the office. Again, he opened his mouth to speak...

….but again, his mother interrupted him: "Besides, you can't really blame him. That witch has him under a vile spell for sure." she said as she shot a venomous look at Alice.

Instantly, Richard's confrontational mood returned. "You take that back. Alice is the most gentle and generous woman I met. I won't stand for you calling her an evil seductress or-"

"Richard, I didn't mean witch in that sense. I meant it in the supernatural sense."

Confused and still offended, Richard asked: "What on earth do you mean? Alice is a-"

Richard was suddenly interrupted by Jenny, who grabbed his right arm and shoved the sleeve upwards, baring his arm. "He's clean." she said.

"As are these two." said Vastra, displaying Dodgson's and Winifred's exposed right arms.

"...But you said it takes only a touch!" exclaimed Meredith. "And there's no way they haven't touched her!"

"It's a little more complex than that." said Vastra. "The Mara can't force itself on someone without sufficient strength. It has to offer them something they want, and they have to accept it."

Richard stepped forward, and asked: "Would someone please explain what's going on? And who are you anyway?"

"It's Jenny...Richard, right?" Jenny asked, to which Richard nodded, before she continued: "Madame Vastra and I are friends of Scotland Yard. We asked your parents to help us find you, and thus find Alice."

"...What?"

"The detective woman told us everything." said Thomas with a shaky voice. Then he turned to Alice: "You, Miss Liddell, are the cause of London's madness."

Alice, who had been silently hiding behind Richard up to this point, looked Thomas in the eye and asked: "Me? How?"

Madame Vastra stepped closer to Alice and Richard. "Andrew Rucastle. Trenton Haymitch. Lord Oldsworth. Toby Russel. Cardin Varnham. George Renfrew. Plus only God knows how many more. Recongize any of those names?"

Alice felt her heart beat a little bit faster. "Why?" was all she could say.

In a calm, but still condescending tone, Vastra began: "A calm and peaceful activist turns violent against the police. A struggling theater manager turns against his own company. An upstanding-if-lecherous Peer turns homicidal. A reserved bookstore owner turns arsonist and burglar. A friendly – if somewhat entitled – sailor becomes an enemy of women. And a shy accountant publicly abuses his children. All sensational crimes, all respectable people who lost their inhibitions, and all with only one connection: You, Alice."

Vastra suddenly produced a series of articles clipped from various newspapers and magazines, and scattered them on the floor before Alice. She knelt down and picked them up, seeing articles such as: _Theater manager attacks his own workers, Toby Russel arrested for burglary, Lord Oldsworth hanged for murder and adultery,_ and so many others.

As Alice looked on in horror, Vastra continued: "Nowhere in these stories are you mentioned, despite you having been connected with all of these men. No doubt due to the low-intensity perception filter I can clearly see surrounding you right now. No one who isn't specifically looking for you, or isn't human, would think you're even worth mentioning. I myself struggled to remember your connection to these people from time to time."

"...Perception filter?" said Alice weakly, memories of her brief adventure with the Doctor surfacing. How his magic box was allowed to look like something that wouldn't be invented for years, and still escape notice in a gossipy era such as this one.

"Yes indeed." said Vastra. "Quite beyond the capability of ordinary humans to produce, even ones with minds like yours. But it's quite within the capacity of the Mara."

"What's a Mara?" asked Winifred from the sidelines.

"The Mara is a psychevorous parasite from the Dark Places of the Inside, that feeds on negative emotions such as fear, sorrow, and hatred, and thrives by spreading discord and chaos through its material hosts. And Alice has been spreading it around London like a contagious mental disease." said Vastra, never once taking her eyes off Alice.

"I don't believe you." said Richard. "Alice would never hurt anyone."

"On the contrary." said Meredith. "She hurt Dr. Bumby, didn't she? No, she killed him! He hurt her, and she paid him back. Just like she's going to do to the whole world that's hurt her so. She's a menace."

"A monster." added Thomas.

"...Well, she's certainly a risk." said Jenny hesitantly.

"She...c-cannot be a threat!" said Dodgson.

"She's an angel!" insisted Winifred.

"She's a devil!" insisted Thomas in return.

"Murderer!"

"Liar!"

"Criminal!"

"Witch!"

The whole crowd started arguing, with Thomas and Meredith on one side, and Richard, Dodgson and Winifred on the other, with Jenny in the middle...but all Alice could hear was the side that called her so many horrible things, because she started to believe them.

She remembered how the Doctor showed her things from the real world that were as strange and frightening as the ones in Wonderland. If this 'Mara' was real, spreading her madness to the people she knew...

"Alice," said Vastra insistently, interrupting Alice's train of thought; "Come with me."

Alice looked up at Vastra...and noticed her veil being much more transparent than it was before. Below the hood, she finally saw the green scales, the piercing yellow eyes, the crests on the head, and the forceful, determined look on her face..."

"...SERPENT!" she suddenly cried.

Taken aback by the sudden outburst, the argument in the room ceased, to regard the frightened and shaking Alice.

Vastra was the only one unaffected. "Alice, I-"

"GET AWAY!" Alice shouted again, this time adding some action: She sprang to her feet, and shoved her way past Richard to reach the exit. Vastra and Jenny were able to dodge her charge by throwing themselves to the sides of the room.

"Stop her!" yelled Meredith, and she and her husband reached out to stop her, grabbing her by her arm. Seeing Alice's distress, Dodgson and Winifred rushed in to help her...

...and all four collapsed onto the ground as Alice ran out the door!

"Alice, come back!" shouted Richard, who rushed after her.

As they heard them clomping their way down the stairs, Vastra and Jenny prepared to rush after them as well...

….but then Vastra held Jenny back, and looked at the prone figures between them and the exit.

All of them had a strange rash beginning to form on their exposed right arms.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Alice rushed down the streets of Oxford in a blind haze, neither seeing nor hearing anything that wasn't directly related to her primary objective of escape. She couldn't really figure out what she was trying to escape from, any more than she had any measure of what successful escape would mean. All she knew was that she had to escape.

Without her bidding, her body dodged around people, trees, and other obstacles that presented themselves. The sounds of the people around her faded into the background, as if she didn't consciously perceive them at all. All that was going through her mind was one single word:

 _RUN_.

So, she ran.

She ran until the trees and streets and buildings and people began to blur together, until they were indistinguishable. She ran until she lost her sense of direction, unable to tell if she was going forward, backward, sideways, inwards or outwards. She ran until she couldn't even hear the rushing of wind around her, save for a cool stillness.

She ran until she found herself in an upside down corridor, with no idea how she got there.

Shocked, she leaned backwards to cling to the chandelier. "Where am I?" she asked.

" _You're in a new section of the castle. Surprised you didn't recognize it right away._ "

Alice looked around for the source of the voice, and found it coming from the floor above her, from a very familiar face.

"White Queen! Thank goodness it's you!"

" _Yes. It's obvious you're having problems. Come."_

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

…...

…...

 _Your problems are only beginning, and just when you had it all figured out._

 _You know reputation is all that matters for the ranks of the gentry. And yet, here you go losing your temper in front of complete strangers once again. No wonder your son hates you enough to defy your express wishes. You're a self-righteous hypocrite...and soon the whole world will know._

 _Your high society friends won't afford you the time you need to change your behavior for the better. They'd rather shun you instead. Ending all the advantages of your station then and there to preserve their own reputations. Leaving nothing for the son you still love, despite all evidence to the contrary._

 _There is still a chance, however; you can prevent these people from spreading rumours about your behavior. Discard your weakness before it's too late!_

 _Accept me, Thomas Hargreaves. I am your strength._

… _..._

… _..._

 _Exciting, isn't it? You know it won't last._

 _For the sake of your children, you have sacrificed any potential of an exciting life. You have even sacrificed your individuality, your ability to speak your mind, and your status as anything other than your husband's ornament._

 _And for what? For your son to fall in love with an hysterical pauper? To be connected with the most sensational and bizarre crimes your gossip-mongering ever heard about?_

 _Your son will see sense soon enough, but not soon enough that he won't stand between Alice and the police, and get arrested in turn. If you don't want that to stain his life forever, you must act now._

 _Accept me, Meredith Hargreaves. I am your strength._

… _..._

… _..._

 _They're off. Away from the frightening reality of the world, Alice and Richard should have all the privacy they need to admit their feelings for each other. Just like in the romance novels, where all the pressures of reality fall away before the power of true love._

 _You're really obsessed with getting those two together, aren't you? I don't blame you. You see so much of your once-great husband in little Richard; a great and inventive mind who longed to make his mark on the world, the perfect magnet for a young heart. But the pressures of society got in the way, and he died all but nameless, with his only successful venture being securing your hand._

 _It won't be that way with Alice, for sure. You were a boring heiress living off your family name, but Alice is imagination itself. She would be perfect for Richard..._

 _...if she weren't the target of the police. The law is now the biggest obstacle between your grandson and his happiness, and if she's taken away Richard will be heartbroken, and doomed to even worse failure than your husband. Your efforts to give him the life his grandfather was denied will be in vain unless you do something._

 _Accept me, Winifred Hargreaves. I am your strength._

… _..._

… _..._

 _This is it. The end._

 _Alice's new friends brought with them powerful enemies. They are here to undo all the effort you put into making her life livable. Into making up for your mistakes._

 _After all, you're more to blame for her predicament than she realizes. It was you, after all, who got her father as obsessed with photography as you were, leaving their library full of flammable chemicals perfect for starting a fire._

 _True, Bumby started the fire, but even then you cannot escape the blame. After all, it was you who declared to him that the Liddell girls to be the most attractive beauties you ever laid eyes on. And well before marriageable age, no less!_

 _I know, you repressed those desires. They weren't much use, since they got you thrown out of the Liddells' circle of friends, and the fire destroyed any hope of reconciliation...until Alice turned up again. She represents your last hope for redemption; and are you going to just let these 'detectives' take her away?_

 _Accept me, Charles Dodgson. I am your strength._

… _..._

… _..._

"Jenny, I think it best we leave as well."

Looking at the scene before them, Jenny couldn't agree more. "Only question is how." she said, intending for it to sound sarcastic but it wound up quite genuine.

Between them and the room's only exit were four humans who all bore the physical scars of the Mara's corruption: Yellow, serpentine eyes; blood dripping from their mouths; scattered skin lesions that looked like scales; and most prominently, a larger lesion on their right arm that looked like a tattoo of a dark green snake with yellow patterns.

And they were all pulling themselves upwards off the floor, in unnatural movements, before turning to face the two ladies.

" _Stop, Vastra_..." they moaned in unison, as if they'd awoken from a deep sleep.

"We can't let you leave..." said Meredith.

"You know of the things we've tried to hide from the world." said Thomas through clenched teeth.

"What's worse, you have a duty to reveal them." said Dodgson, without a trace of his characteristic stutter.

"And you're going to hurt those that we love the most." said Winifred, drawing in a breath that almost sounded like a hiss.

Then, they once again spoke in unison: " _You must die._ " And as one, they lunged at the two ladies.

Their assault was mad frenzy and desperation combined with a total lack of fighting knowledge and discipline, while Vastra and Jenny both had training in multiple martial arts. None of their attacks met their mark, and they were quickly dispatched.

"Jenny," said Vastra, "Find Alice. I'll restrain these four."

"Right away, Ma'am." Jenny said in the process of obeying her mistress' order.

Vastra busied herself with finding some rope or other suitable restraint for the Mara's servants...occasionally stopping to glance at her arm, to make sure none of her own scales had changed color.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

…...

…...

" _Your mind is in tatters, Alice. That much should be clear as crystal. Fear and self-loathing have destroyed everything you've worked so hard to build._ "

Alice nodded as she followed the White Queen down the stairs, spiraling down further and further into the depths of the castle. "You seem to be alright, but..."

" _But you know appearances can be deceiving._ " interrupted the White Queen. Again, Alice nodded.

Eventually, the staircase ended before a door, and the White Queen pushed it open. The White Queen entered the new passageway, and Alice followed...

...into a dark void filled with absolute nothingness, not even ground to stand upon. Instead of falling, however, Alice effortlessly walked on empty air.

"Amazing." she breathed out.

" _Yes, but you're not here to admire. You're here to see the truth._ "

No sooner did the White Queen utter those words than several faces appeared out of the darkness, illuminated by scattered stones that glowed a soft yellow. She saw the Cheshire Cat, the Dodo, the Lion, the Unicorn, the Butterfly, the Wasp-in-a-wig, the Mad Hatter, the Duchess, the Mock Turtle, the Gryphons, and so many others. The only ones she couldn't see were the ones she knew meant her harm, like the Red Queen, the Jabberwock, and the Pigeon.

There had been very few times when Alice had seen so many of her friends from Wonderland all in one place, as she remembered, and all of them were in very trying times. Furthermore, in those times and this one, she was the center of attention.

So, she was the first speaker: "Are you...looking to me for aid?"

" _You're the one in need of aid, as always._ " said the Dodo.

" _Wonderland is you. Everything in Wonderland is you. By your will was it formed, by your hand was it shaped, and by your every thought was it brought to life_." said the Butterfly.

" _The link between you and this place is impossible to sever. What happens to one affects the other and vice versa, as it has before, and will until the end._ " said the Mad Hatter.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" said Alice, tears forming in her eyes. "I made the problems that plague Wonderland, and all my attempts to solve it have only made things worse. And what's more, now this woman's saying I'm affecting others as well. My madness is spreading, making the people I know do horrible things, and I don't know how or why! If only I could just learn to live in peace with my mind..."

" _Oh, grow up, Alice. Oh, wait, that's right – you_ _can't_ _._ " growled the Cheshire Cat.

"Wh...what do you mean?"

Everyone moved closer in response. " _You've been faced with tragedy after tragedy. And all you could do was retreat to your childhood fantasies. Your body has changed, but you're still the same seven year old girl that just barely jumped out of that burning house._ " said the Wasp.

"Then...then what of all the times I stood up to adversity? The times I pushed away my trauma and moved on?" quivered Alice, dreading the answer.

" _You fought to reclaim your childhood paradise. You fought to reclaim your memories. You fought to save your life. None of that required growing up. All that required was to cling to your happier past, when nothing bad could ever happen._ " said the Lion.

" _You never once fought for your future_." said the Unicorn in turn.

" _And look where we are now: You have no job, you have no money, you have no place to turn for aid and comfort. You have no future_." said the Duchess.

" _And your friends? To hear that lady talk, you put them in danger simply by existing. You, who stood up to injustice and ill fortune wherever you could, are now its cause._ " said the Mock Turtle.

" _Not even the Doctor can help you now._ " said the Elder Gryphon.

" _In fact, you would be his enemy if he appeared again. An enemy to all humanity. Like those he swore to destroy, so that the good and innocent might live_." said the Younger Gryphon.

"No!" wailed Alice. "I am not an enemy! I don't want that!"

" _And yet, here we are_." said the March Hare.

" _On the brink of annihilation by your hands_." said the Dormouse.

All the accusing faces leaned in ever closer, and spoke in unison: " _You will lead Wonderland to ruin, and all the worlds beyond, as chaos tears all hope away from the people you love._ "

Alice curled in on herself, sobbing.

It was some minutes before she thought of anything to say: "Is there no way to prevent this tragedy?"

" _It would certainly be hard. You are neither cognizant of the source of the problem, nor your role in it. And you have proven powerless against enemies you once could defeat with ease._ " said the Cheshire Cat.

" _But it can be done. All you need is the power to take care of yourself, and thus never be a threat to anyone ever again_." said the White Queen.

Alice looked up from her curled position to see the Queen's outstretched right hand.

" _Accept me, Alice Liddell. I am your strength."_

* * *

…...

…...

…...

 _Help us..._


	9. The Truth Revealed

Disclaimer: I do not own American McGee's Alice or Doctor Who. EA and BBC should have arrested me long ago. I am a horrible person for writing fanfiction...

…..Wait, what?

* * *

Chapter 9: The Truth Revealed.

* * *

" _Accept me, Alice Liddell. I am your strength."_

Alice blinked away her tears, then regarded the White Queen's outstretched hand. The monarch's face was blank, insistent, without even a trace of a smile.

Alice slowly lifted her own hand towards the Queen. After all, she offered strength. That was something she definitely needed. Strength she could use to...

to...

The White Queen grabbed for Alice's hand, but she had withdrawn it. _"What's wrong?"_ she asked.

"What kind of strength are you?" asked Alice, her voice barely above a whisper.

" _What kind of question is that?_ " asked the monarch incredulously.

"What would I be able to do, if I accepted you?"

Never once returning her hand to her side, the White Queen answered: " _You'll grow. You'll rise above your inner demons and be able to touch your friends again. Things will change, and you'll have everything you ever wanted. Just trust me._ "

"...But what do I want? Is it a comfortable life? Is it friendship? Is it..."

" _Just give me your hand, Alice!_ " yelled the White Queen insistently, as she shoved her hand in Alice's face.

Something about the act finally 'clicked' something into place for Alice. She blinked away even more tears, and stood up. Her face was no longer despaired and directionless, but cautiously inquisitive.

"...Don't you mean 'our' hand?"

" _What do you mean?_ "

Alice stepped back from the White Queen. "You're not using the royal 'we' in your speech, like you always do. Furthermore, you were never this forceful...or cruel. Even when you spoke uncomfortable truths, you always brought it in a manner that made me want to listen and learn. You never sought to deepen my despair like this!"

" _Alice, this is me. It's always been me._ " the White Queen said as she advanced on Alice.

"No. It can't be. You're not the White Queen. I know my own mind. But this..." Alice said, looking all around her, at the hostile eyes of her former friends... "...This cannot be my mind!"

" _Stop talking nonsense!_ " exclaimed the White Queen, who suddenly lunged at Alice.

But Alice continued to speak, even while holding back the Queen: "I have every right to speak nonsense! This is my world of nonsense! But something has happened to it...and I finally think I know what happened!"

With that, Alice jerked the Queen's arms to the side, throwing her off-balance. This allowed Alice to grab at her friend's face, and pull.

The Queen's face peeled off with the sound of ripping paper.

What she saw underneath shocked Alice, but she was quickly able to describe it: "It's you! You're the serpent!"

 _Wrong, Alice. I am Wonderland. I am you._

As the snake-headed...thing wearing the White Queen's clothes spoke in its echoing voice, which sounded like an exact mirror of Alice's own, the cavern they were in suddenly became much more detailed.

The yellow light sources that Alice thought were something along the lines of glowing stones were actually glowing serpentine _eyes_ , attached to massive snake heads. What she thought were her friends were really patterns of snake scales in the shape of her friends. And what she thought was empty air was in fact thousands upon thousands of coiling sections of snake, surrounding her in every direction with scales colored green, yellow, gray, red, and so many others.

"The Mara..." Alice said in awestruck horror.

 _So you listened when the Silurian mentioned my name. It won't help you._

The coils shuffled around, closing the way Alice entered the snake-filled cavern. Then, they closed tighter around Alice.

 _It would have been much easier for us both if you'd accepted my first offer. You have only yourself to blame for what follows._

The voice came from every head visible, leaving Alice assaulted by a cacophony with no directional source to isolate and make sense of. She tried to focus on the snake that had assumed the White Queen's form, only to find that it had disappeared. So too did every head she tried to turn towards.

"What did you do to Wonderland? Where are my friends?" she shouted in a random direction.

 _What friends?_

"The Cheshire Cat! The White Rabbit! The Mad Hatter! The White Queen! Where are they?"

 _What makes you so sure they existed in the first place? This is MY world. All you have to do is make it official._

"And what if I refuse?" shouted Alice with hatred welling up from her heart.

In response, a dozen small snake heads shot out from the coiling mass and bit Alice, pouring white hot fire directly into her bloodstream.

Alice screamed in an agony she had not known before, but somehow she survived. She tried to move her body, to loosen the fangs or at least curl up in pain, but the heads held her fast. In fact, they pumped in even more venom to punish her for trying.

She felt needles growing within her skin, and thick liquids clogging her bloodstream. Clenching through the pain, she shrieked out:

"This won't break me! This is only a dream! Soon I'll wake up, and you'll have no power over me!"

 _You're already awake, Alice. And I can ensure this dream will never end._

As the Mara spoke, another dose of venom was injected into Alice, bringing with it even more kinds of pain.

Alice tried to hang on, to defy her tormentor and claim some, any form of triumph over this insurmountable foe, but her options were dwindling fast. Her body was freezing up, and the more energy she spent struggling the faster she lost it.

 _Yes, Alice. You hate me, don't you? Good. Your hate makes me stronger. Struggle all you like. Exhaust yourself even faster._

"I will... resist you." said Alice weakly. "I will...expel you from..."

 _From what? Your mind? I have turned it, and everything that you are, against you. There is nothing of your mind that is not me, save for you._

"...Even the Pigeon?"

The Mara gave no response. Not even another dose of venom. "What's wrong, Mara?" Alice asked; "Bird got your tongue?"

 _You insolent girl. You cannot-_

A loud ripping sound echoed throughout the mass of snakes as a tear appeared before Alice. And out of the tear poured a glowing white mist... from which jumped the White Knight, mace and lance in hand.

 _You? I thought-_

"Alice! Hold on, I'll get you out!"

The Knight readied his lance, pulled some form of lever, and threw it at Alice. As she braced for the impact, it split into several different ends, and impaled the snakes that bound her to the Mara wall.

"Yes!" exclaimed the White Knight. "Finally an invention that worked!"

The pain from the venom ceased, but not from the fangs. They were weak enough, however, that Alice finally was able to physically wrench herself free of them. Blood and silvery venom dripped out of her gaping wounds as she walked towards the White Knight...

...and collapsed to the ground as her strength finally left her. "I...I can't move!" she moaned as she tried to crawl towards her savior, but she had not even the energy to lift a finger.

"No no no, don't give up now, Alice!" shouted the Knight as he rushed to her.

 _Stop! Stop this at once! Alice is mine!_

A snake head shot out towards the White Knight, and grabbed him just before he could touch Alice. The snake struggled to bite through the Knight's armor, so it settled for dragging him away instead...

"Do something!" shouted the Knight.

"I can't, Knight! Where's the-"

"Not you, Alice; him!"

"SERPENT!" came the Pigeon's voice out of nowhere, in answer to Alice's unfinished query. Then another ripping sound punctuated the entrance of the bird himself.

"Pigeon, help!" shouted Alice, with as much strength as she could put into her voice.

She could not tell whether or not the Pigeon heard her, but it did so: It snapped the snake head restraining the White Knight in two with its beak, then flew around the pair biting further assaults. All the while, the White Knight grabbed Alice's bloodsoaked form and dragged her towards the exit.

The Mara shot out more snake heads to pull them back, but the Pigeon's beak and the White Knight's mace were sufficient to drive them off. At last they reached the tear, and all those that could move jumped through...

...but not into the White Queen's castle as Alice expected.

…...,,,,,,,,,,,...

Instead, they jumped into a void – one that was actually empty this time. Alice and the White Knight fell for a minute before the Pigeon – giant-sized once again – caught them on its back.

After they caught their breath, the White Knight gave Alice some meta-essence, and she was able to move again. "What...where are we?" was the first thing she said.

"Outside the Serpent's fake Wonderland." answered the Knight. "Beyond that, I don't know. All I do know is right now we're safer than we would be back in there."

"Don't breathe easy just yet." said the Pigeon. "Before we can wake you up, we need to get back to the real Wonderland. The Serpent's traps are everywhere now. Hardly anyone's made it. Used to be it just copied folks' appearances, but now its playing for keeps."

"Don't remind me." said the Knight with a shudder.

The Pigeon turned around, and through the void something came into view: at first it looked like a horribly discolored version of Alice's face, but upon closer inspection it seemed to be a constellation of multicolored stars merely arranged in Alice's shape.

In awe, Alice asked: "Is that...Wonderland?"

"Yes, but it won't be for much longer. Look!"

As the Pigeon spoke, Alice noticed something pouring into the constellation, via what passed for the 'eyes' of the face: a trail of blood-red energy, fed by multiple tendrils that reached out into the void. Thinner trails of energy splintered out into the rest of the constellation, some only becoming visible as the trio got closer.

"...That's the Mara, isn't it?" asked Alice.

The Pigeon nodded. "That's the Serpent's true form: pure evil. It only looks like a snake because that's its favorite."

Satisfied, Alice deigned to ask another question: "Why were you attacking me all those times? The Mara was the Serpent, not I!"

"The Serpent was inside you. It still is." said the Pigeon, anger dripping from its voice. "It put words in your mouth, telling you that you were worthless, that you were no longer in control, that you were at war with your own mind. And the more you said it, the truer it became. If I didn't stop you, this would have happened a lot sooner than it did."

Alice tried, but could not think of any reason to argue with the Pigeon's reasoning. After all, she knew so little about the Mara. For all she knew, it was telling the truth.

At last, they approached the constellation, and the Pigeon plunged into one of the stars – a blue one. Alice felt a rush of floating things whip at her sides before anything physical came into focus through the light...until at last, the trio found themselves flying above a vast ocean, which Alice surmised to be the surface of the Deluded Depths.

"What now?" she asked.

"Now...you wake up."

Before it could explain, the Pigeon tipped to the side, and Alice was thrown off into the waters below!

Alice screamed as she fell, but still managed to hear the Knight call after her: "Wake up! You need to stay strong! You need to-"

Alice heard no more, as she fell beneath the waves with a loud clap. The impact felt like hitting solid ground, except the pain was compounded as water rushed into and around her from every direction. Still, however, she fought through the pain, and floundered in the water in an attempt to find her bearings; at least to discover which way was up.

At length she heard another sound through the water, of water suddenly rushing to the side of another intruder. She turned to it, opened her eyes...and finally realized she was, indeed, awake.

Richard grabbed her by her left arm, and dragged her to shore.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Alice spent a minute on the Isis' banks coughing up water. Then she gently rubbed the dirty water out of her eyes so she could see what was going on around her. She saw the bridge from whence she jumped, while she was in her fantasy world. She saw the grassy park she was currently in, just off the banks of the river. She saw grass and seaweed staining her nice clothes. She saw a disapproving crowd, laughing her off as another weak woman who chose death to living an honest life. She saw some less disapproving gentlemen who thanked the Lord that someone jumped in and saved her. And she saw...

"Alice, what were you thinking? You can't just throw your life away like that!" scolded Richard as he fought back his tears. He held her by her shoulders, attempting to keep her steady and grounded in reality.

Alice didn't respond, as she was too busy finding her breath. But she thought of a way to respond, of why she did what she did, to tell him when she did recover. Before that, however, she noticed a major problem:

Richard was touching her.

"GET BACK!" she shouted as she batted his hands away.

Richard was thrown back, too stunned to say anything, as Alice pulled herself up to her feet and ran away again.

At length he pulled himself up, and yelled: "Alice, wait!"

Alice did pause in her running, but not because of Richard's demands; rather, because the crowd had grown so massive that she couldn't see an escape route that didn't involve touching someone. So, she yelled into their faces: "Clear a path!"

The crowd were shocked into obedience, and Alice ran past them, with Richard right behind her. Not even the most curious followed them, instead preferring to go on with the rest of their normally scheduled day. Save, perhaps, for one latecomer...

Alice, meanwhile, ran for only a short distance; her previous ordeals had sapped her energy. So, she collapsed to her knees on another, less crowded area of the park, which allowed Richard to catch up with her.

"Alice!" Richard exclaimed as he knelt beside her. She could tell there was nothing but concern in his voice...but she also knew that's what was wrong.

"Don't touch me. Please." she said weakly.

"Why not? What's wrong?" Richard asked as he backed away, but only slightly.

Alice shot Richard an incredulous look. "What's wrong? What's wrong is that I'm a danger to you, to myself, to everyone in this world! The Mara has taken control of Wonderland so it could spread its evil wherever I went!"

"The Mara...Alice, surely you don't believe what that woman said!"

"Believe it? I've seen it!" said Alice. Then, remembering another thing that happened back in Dodgson's study, she did something she hadn't done for a long time: she exposed her right arm.

Richard jumped slightly as he saw the snake-tattoo, ever-so-slightly writhing on Alice's arm. And he also saw the peeled skin that surrounded it, as if it had once covered the growth.

Alice was also disgusted, but she wasn't as surprised. "You see?" she said. "And she said all it takes is a single touch to spread it to another."

Richard waited a second to get over his shock before responding, but then he said: "But...I've touched you several times, and I'm not affected! At least, I think I'm not..." Detecting the insecurity in his own voice, he exposed his own right arm, and breathed a sigh of relief when he couldn't see any mark like Alice's.

That did nothing to assuage Alice's fears, however: "Then it's only a matter of time. The Mara is greedy, and it wants to feed on your dark side. And when it does, I'll be to blame. You were better off not knowing me."

With that, Alice got up, and started to walk away, but then Richard did something she did not expect: he grabbed her, on her exposed arm, and wouldn't let go.

Alice tried to pull away, but Richard held fast. "What on earth are you doing?" she asked incredulously.

"I refuse to believe, even for an instant, that I would have been better off not knowing you." he said insistently. Then, he gently released her arm as he continued: "Besides, I think you enabled me to resist its corruption in the first place."

This got Alice's attention, and she passed on the opportunity to continue fleeing to ask: "What do you mean?"

"When I was following you, I heard a voice telling me that it wasn't worth pursuing you, that I could go back to my inventions with newfound purpose and approval without you holding me back. But I refused. I had to ensure you were safe and sound."

"That must have been the Mara!" Alice exclaimed. "And you're saying thoughts of me enabled you to resist it? How?"

"Because now, all of my dreams include you."

As Alice took in what he said, Richard paused as if to steel himself, then he continued: "Before I met you, I had nothing to look forward to except stress upon stress, from work and from family. My family wanted me to become a gentleman, my work demanded I be successful, and I was none of those things despite my best efforts. I felt so unhappy, and sometimes thought I could never live a satisfactory life as I was. But with you, I derive joy from your very presence, and satisfaction from your every smile."

He paused, took in a deep breath, then looked her square in the eyes. "You are a wonderful person, full of imagination and heart, and undeniable strength, and I admire you. You struggle against impossible odds for the sake of those around you, and I want to help you in any way I can. Yours is a world I want to be a part of, Alice Liddell... because I love you."

Both paused in disbelief; Alice at what she heard, and Richard at what he said. Neither could think of anything to say for a while, so they just stared at each other, considering their thoughts and what they thought the other was thinking.

Eventually, Alice spoke up: "How can you love someone who's brought nothing but hardship and ruin to you and your family?"

Richard's response was an incredulous: "Whatever makes you say that?"

"Look at the rift I've driven between you and everyone else. Think about what the Mara could be doing to their minds as we speak. Think of all the people I've corrupted, and the damage they could do to the world around us. What sort of life will you have after this?"

Richard surprised Alice by giving a small laugh in response; "Alice, there's been a rift between me and my family for so long. I'm quite used to it. Besides, you can't blame yourself for this...Mara's actions."

"But I _am_ the Mara." said Alice with a pained voice. "Even though it doesn't _control_ me, it's still there in my mind, waiting for me to spread it to someone else!"

"So throw it _out_ of your mind! Dodgson told me about your struggles with the Red Queen and the Dollmaker, and so many other things...why can't you do the same with the Mara?"

"That's just it, Richard...I wouldn't know where to start. I've been unaware of it for so long it's embedded itself deep within the very heart of Wonderland. It knows my strengths and weaknesses, while I know neither of its own."

"You'll figure it out, Alice." said Richard, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I believe in you."

He hoped Alice would smile, but instead she looked away and brushed his hand off. "I don't deserve this. I...you and I, we're not to be. We cannot possibly have a future together, surely you realize that by now?"

Richard sighed, considering her question, then answered: "Since when does love bend to the will of reason?"

Alice looked at him, at his soggy clothes and hair, at his flushed face, and eyes which she expected to be pleading but were instead filled with a visible compassion; one directed outward rather than inward.

"You have a point." she said at length. "But is it love speaking, or the Mara directing its servant to protect its primary host?"

"...Good question. What do you think?" asked Richard.

Alice closed her eyes, turned her thoughts inward. And when she opened them again, asked: "If you stand with me against the Mara, you'll face death if we fail, and possibly separation from your friends and family, and all your aspirations of fame and fortune, even if we succeed. Can you live with that?"

"As long as I have you."

"And what if you don't have me in the end? What if your love leaves you with nothing?"

Richard paused, giving the question all of his thought. "I never considered that possibility. It would be wrong to force you to love me... And it would be selfish to assume you love me simply because I love you..." He paused, and at length smiled weakly as he said: "I guess I would be satisfied with whatever outcome leaves you the happiest."

At last, Alice smiled. "Then it is love."

"Ahem."

Alice and Richard turned around, and saw Jenny looking right at them.

"If you two lovebirds are done quarreling," she said, "Madame Vastra requires your presence."

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Once again, Alice found herself on the railway between London and Oxford with Richard by her side. This time, however, Winifred Hargreaves was not seated with them; rather, she along with the Mara's other victims were in a separate car, being watched by Vastra's police allies. Riding with Alice instead of her were Vastra and Jenny.

It had taken small effort to convince Richard that the two detectives were legitimate, and they were on the side that opposed the Mara. They were elated to realize that Alice was not actively controlled by the Mara, and was in fact willing to fight it, just as Alice and Richard were elated to learn these two strangers were allies.

This was only confirmed when an off-handed statement by Alice revealed her past acquaintance with the Doctor, an acquaintance Vastra and Jenny alike shared. After recounting their positive experiences with the ancient Time Lord (leaving poor Richard the only one 'out of the loop' as it were), they swore to oppose the Mara together.

But first, Vastra insisted they travel to London. There, after all, Alice had been the most active – and thus done the most damage. Therefore if they were to find a cure for the Mara's sickness, it would make sense to have it close to the greatest number of its victims.

And so, there they were, in a similar cabin to their previous journey, steeling themselves for the battle ahead.

As soon as they were settled, and the train got rolling, Vastra was the first to speak: "In all the excitement, Alice, I quite forgot to ask: What all do you know of the Mara?"

"Only what you said back at Dodgson's, and what I've seen. It's taken over Wonderland, disguised itself as my friends to gain my trust, and then tried to trick me into signing over control of my mind. It's very powerful, and if it weren't for the Pigeon and White Knight it would have gotten me for sure. It looks like a snake, but it's not a snake, and its victims have a snake mark on their arms. It turns people bad, it feeds on negative emotions, comes from the Darkness of...of..."

"The Dark Places of the Inside," corrected Vastra.

Sheepishly, Alice nodded. "Yes, yes, that. And, for some reason it has waited until now before trying to control me directly, but still using me as a carrier for its disease."

"Scary, that." commented Richard. "So how much knowledge is that?"

Vastra pointedly blinked, and said: "Not enough to defeat it, that's for sure."

"Well then, what do you know?"

"What I know, Mr. Ape Hargreaves, are the stories my people told of when the Mara menaced my own civilization all those millions of years ago, but even those were thousands of years before my time. Luckily for us, however, we do not have to rely solely upon apocrypha."

Before saying another word, Vastra pulled a letter from a concealed pocket, written on blue paper.

At a glance, Alice recognized the handwriting; "Is that...?"

"Yes," said Vastra. "I received this a year ago from our mutual friend, the Doctor. He said my future self told him to tell me that the Mara would menace this country soon, and a woman named Alice was involved. However, thanks to the Mara's perception filter, I was only able to remember your connection to the various crimes committed by your associates; that is, until I saw the mark on Cardin's arm."

"Again, I must thank you for coming to Nan's rescue." interrupted Alice.

Vastra nodded. "I accept your thanks. Now then, as for the information..."

"The Mara is essentially a collection of malicious thoughts, mistakenly given sentience from a telepathically-sensitive crystal on the Planet Manussa, several thousand years in the future. After five hundred years of ruling its creators the Mara was at last weakened and banished, but in the process made a threat to the entire universe.'

'It was banished to the Dark Places of the Inside, a parallel dimension composed of pure thought, connected to this material universe at non-linear points in time. The consequence of this being, if someone standing in these connection points fell asleep, their mind would enter the Dark Places when they dreamed. Thus, they could encounter the Mara. The Mara would then influence their dreams, until they were eventually tricked into letting the Mara into their minds, allowing the Mara to manifest in this world again."

"Excuse me for a moment, but..." asked Richard, "If this thing was born in the future, how can it menace the past?"

"You ever had a dream where you were in Ancient Greece, or somethin'?" asked Jenny in response, to which Richard said nothing. So, she continued: "That's what we mean when we say linear time doesn't exist in the Dark Places, same as in dreams."

"Indeed. On occasion, we've taken advantage of that to host telepathic conference calls with...certain time-traveling associates," said Vastra with a sly wink directed at Alice, which was understood by everyone except Richard. Then, she continued:

"However, the Mara operates by the same principle. That's how it was able to appear on worlds like Deva Loka, Siduin, and this one, both 65 million years ago and today.'

'Once here, the Mara would spread its influence until it achieved its desired goals: the downfall of civilization, and the spread of chaos, because those states produced all of the negative emotions on which it feeds, and its appetite has no limit. Many races believe the universe has a cycle, in which civilizations rise and fall, and are replaced by others which rise and fall in their turn. By these beliefs, the Mara seeks to keep the metaphorical wheels rotating, as it's at its strongest when the future is uncertain."

Vastra paused here, as she noticed some thought forming in Alice's expression. At last, she spoke: "I see. So through me it transformed all these respectable men into criminals, and through small untraceable actions it would gradually create a climate of fear and mistrust, undermining the foundations of our society over time...but why didn't it just control me directly?"

"Probably because it knew you could fight it off. Like I said, you've experience fighting off foreign thoughts." commented Richard.

Alice responded: "True...But that raises another question: why spend the extra effort when I can give it what it wants as I am? Sure the feeding's small scale, but it sounds like the Mara can afford to wait all eternity for it to pay off!"

"I think it's because we got on its case. We scared it, right?" said Jenny with a self-assured smile, as she looked to Vastra for approval...but instead, Vastra sadly shook her head.

"Tempting as it may be, I have a feeling the Mara intended to possess Alice from the start. In fact, you may well be its ultimate prize; the other victims were merely a means for it to gather strength, so it could overpower your mental defenses and take you by force if need be."

"But why? What's so special about me?"

"I have a theory...that you and the Mara are more kindred spirits than first impressions would say."

Alice's body became more tense at the suggestion. "Impossible. What would we ever have in common?"

"The answer lies in your dreams...or rather, your dream." said Vastra, cryptically. This time, everyone except her was left confused.

She sighed in disappointment, and continued: "I looked into your medical history before coming to Oxford, as well as skim through your books. Hallucinations, waking dreams, and other delusions...and all of the same place; the same Wonderland. When most people dream, there's rarely a linear narrative driving the whole dream. Even recurring dreams are never the same twice. But you, Alice, have been visiting the exact same dream world throughout your entire conscious life. The characters may change shape, the places may change their arrangement, but they are always referred to as 'the Cheshire Cat', 'the Hatter,' 'the Vale of Tears,' et cetera.'

'What's more, these dream fragments are more clearly a reflection of your subconscious fears and desires, than the disconnected images of a dream. You recognize them as such, and they behave as such. You shaped this world of Wonderland through actions both conscious and unconscious, and you are consciously aware of this fact. And I saw no record of an education on dream interpretation of any kind."

"And your point?" asked a slightly impatient Alice, to which Vastra gave a shocking response:

"You carved Wonderland out of the Dark Places of the Inside."

* * *

At last everything is coming together!

And once again I've broken my record for longest story in terms of word count! And I'll definitely break the chapter record as well before this is all done!

Favorite, follow, and review, and soon we'll find out what this discovery means for the coming battle!


	10. The Darkness Within

Disclaimer: I do not own American McGee's Alice (EA) or Doctor Who (BBC).

* * *

Chapter 10: The Darkness Within

* * *

"You carved Wonderland out of the Dark Places of the Inside."

"...What?" said a dumbfounded Alice.

"I thought you said that was the Mara's realm!" added Richard.

"Only because it was banished there." replied Vastra. "At its most basic, the Dark Places of the Inside is a realm of pure thought, a literal world of dreams. A world which is shaped by the dreams of those whose minds enter it."

"Unless the Mara shapes their dreams for them." said Alice.

"Quite so. However, it did not do so with your dream. It could only disguise itself as _your_ dream. And even then, only once it had multiple mortal agents from which to draw negative energy. You, meanwhile, have a section of the Dark Places entirely devoted to you, and every aspect of you. Your own private fiefdom in a world otherwise ruled by the Mara."

At those words, Alice finally believed Vastra: She remembered looking at Wonderland from the outside, seeing only darkness surrounding, and the Mara's corrupting energy forcing itself in. 'So that was the Dark Places of the Inside,' she thought to herself.

"Indeed it is." said Vastra...

….much to Alice's shock. "What did you...I didn't say anything!"

Jenny and Richard looked between Alice and Vastra in shock, but Jenny less so; "What was she thinking?" she asked, causing further confusion to Alice and Richard.

"She was recalling a time when she left her dreamworld, and saw the void surrounding." Vastra said in response

At last, Alice was able to vocalize her confusion: "Are you saying you can hear my thoughts? Are you using telepathy, like Dodgson talked about with his friends in the Society for Psychical Research? I thought it was just hogwash!"

Vastra smirked in response. "Those folks don't know what true telepathy looks like, but I can assure you it is indeed real. I don't have the telepathic skill of the Scholar caste, but I do know a few tricks. Chief among them the ability to share dreams – it's how I arrange those 'conference calls' I mentioned earlier. You clearly have more, albeit unexplored potential in that area, however."

"Me?"

"Yes. In fact, I sense you have some experience pulling others into your dreams. And not just the time the Doctor entered Wonderland to help fight the Weeping Angel."

Alice opened her mouth, ready to dismiss Vastra's claims as pure nonsense, but stopped. It was at that moment she remembered some things...things she had, up until now, thought of as beneath notice.

"You mentioned working for Trenton Haymitch...that wasn't my first time working at the Royal Opera House. Once, when I was a pauper in the seventies, I cleaned up backstage for a couple of nights before I went back to the streets. At one point during those nights, Richard Wagner was playing his 'Rings of the Nibelung' operas in the stage above where I was working – I even brushed past him as he was setting things up. When the music started, I started hallucinating...but not of Wonderland, but a world populated by characters from that opera. I had never seen it before, nor knew any of the characters...and yet, somehow, there they were in my dream."

"From one imagination to another." said Vastra with an amused shrug.

Alice continued: "Later...shortly before I met the Weeping Angel. I saw Jules Verne at a book-signing event, brushed against him... and later I met him in a dream. We explored the worlds of his novels together; including discussions of stories he had yet to write. None of the worlds we explored were stories I had read previously, however; and wouldn't get a chance until Dodgson helped me get educated. The only memories of mine I brought into the dream were the Vorpal Blade, the Cheshire Cat's image on a balloon, and Bumby's visage on a giant poulp's tentacle. Everything else was from Jules Verne's mind."

"Interesting. And you never questioned those events until now?"

Alice shook her head. "Those and a few others like them, I had all but forgotten. But how is it possible that I shared dreams with them? And in Wagner's case, did it without going to sleep?"

Vastra immediately responded: "The second part is easier to explain: When you hallucinate, you enter your dreamworld without needing to sleep. Stressors, like loud unexpected music, have provoked episodes like this...while Wagner, entranced by his own music, was in a similar dreamlike state.'

'And in these dreamlike states, both of your minds were brought into the Dark Places of the Inside, where your mental energy and their concepts created the shared dream. Their imaginations were almost as strong as yours, but their worlds were only temporary while yours has endured for two decades. All you need is a touch to form the connection."

At this, Vastra paused, before she said: "Now do you see why the Mara wants you above all other potential victims?"

"...Yes."

Even though Vastra, Jenny, and Alice all understood, Richard did not, and he said so. So, Alice elaborated: "Both me and the Mara can manipulate the Dark Places, as well as draw people into it. If the Mara added my power to its own, its power – and its hunger for more – would increase significantly."

"We've already seen a prelude of what that would look like," interjected Vastra. "It's already hijacking your power somewhat, by hiding within Wonderland. Thus situated, it could force a hallucinatory episode when it would be most inconvenient."

"Such as when I needed to watch the Renfrew children..." said Alice with a slight horrified tone.

"And furthermore," continued Vastra, "thanks to your ability to share dreams, it could draw other victims into its realm whenever you were in Wonderland. After you formed the connection with a touch, it would no longer need to wait for the new victim to fall asleep; all it would need is a moment alone with the hapless victim to bring out their dark side, and make it a servant. I imagine you were busy hallucinating after you ran away from me, as the Mara chose that moment to corrupt our poor friends in the other car."

All parties somberly reflected on the sorry state in which they found Richard's family, as well as Dodgson. Snarling at people for barely justifiable reasons, with the voice of a demon from another realm...and Alice responsible for no reason other than her imagination.

"If the Mara had control of your full abilities," continued Vastra, "there would be no measure to fully comprehend the power it might gain, or the opportunities that it would be able to pursue. Only that any outcome it would desire would be disastrous to every civilization in the universe."

The conversation paused, as all involved took in the drastic scale of the threat they faced.

"Well, that was a very informative discussion, but I think it missed the most important part." said Richard.

"Indeed." said Alice, as she turned to Vastra: "How do I fight it? And how do I defeat it?"

"Well, isn't that the question of the hour..."

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"I must say, Vastra, of all the places I believed you'd choose for the final battle...this is not what I was thinking about." said Richard as he looked upon the wrought-iron gates of the Hargreaves family estate.

"You said it would have all the mirrors we required, and it clearly has a circle of vision encompassing every possible access point. I see no reason why it wouldn't be appropriate."

"Well..." said Richard, hesitantly, "It's just...you said there'd be a fight, and..."

"...You're worried about damaging the property? Inevitable, and altogether an insignificant concern compared to what we're up against."

Richard opened his mouth to speak, but halfway through he changed what he was going to say to "Good point. Besides, we can always clean up afterwards, right?"

"Assuming the Mara is defeated, certainly. Now, go set up the mirrors. I must escort Alice to her flat, so she can get the remainder."

Jenny went in first, but Richard stayed behind with his thoughts: 'I never cared for my parents' opinions, or so I've told myself. But here I am saying I don't want them to see the house in shambles when they wake up. Would they extend the same courtesy? I hope so...' he thought to himself...

...until Jenny let out a pronounced "Ahem!" and he followed her in.

Soon, they had all the mirrors they needed arranged in the upstairs drawing room, except for one; one that would soon be brought in by Alice and Vastra. They busied themselves with rearranging the furniture into something resembling obstacles to an advancing army, as well as some peculiar devices Richard could not for the life of him fathom their function.

Along the way, Richard offhandedly remarked: "Vastra hardly lets people get a word in edgewise, doesn't she?"

Jenny paused in her work, and Richard noticed. Believing he somehow offended her, he prepared to stammer out an apology, but then she spoke:

"You're right. Madame Vastra is a rather strong-willed person. And a very knowledgeable person as well. When it comes to solving mysteries, or fighting dream-parasites, I wouldn't know where to start! Even in the things I have learned, like the fighting, I come up short."

"You can fight?" Richard asked, tilting his head in bewilderment.

Jenny nodded, and continued: "Vastra and I studied the same Oriental Arts. But again, She's the better fighter by far – among her people, she was part of the warrior clans. She was raised for combat right after she finished hatching!"

"Oh...hatching, of course." said Richard, still expressing a slight incredulity at the fact that the lizard woman was an ally.

"Compared to her experience with, well, just about everything," continued Jenny, "I come up short. There are some times, in fact, when I feel... out of place in this adventure. Like, Vastra and Alice could handle this all on their own. Like I'm not fit to be anything more than her servant."

At this, Richard's tone changed from confusion to concern. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked.

Jenny responded: "I wonder...do you ever get that feeling? That the ones you love lead a life you want to be a part of, but can't?"

"...Well, I know next to nothing about fighting monsters in dreams. And as much as I want to help, only Alice can fight the Mara in its own realm. Most I've done for Alice is pull her out of Wonderland when things got too stressful. But, I refuse to leave Alice to face this evil alone."

"How so?"

"From what I can tell, the Mara wants Alice to give up on life. I cannot bear the thought of Alice giving in to despair. The thoughts of her smile, her voice...they kept me going when all seemed lost. If there's even the slightest chance that I could do the same for her...remind her she is loved when she might not love herself..."

"...You're right," said Jenny with a smile. "It won't do any good to spend all day worrying I'm not worthy of her love. We give, and receive love. That's what matters."

With that, Jenny walked off to continue her work. Richard started to follow her, but then stopped himself.

"Was she talking about love in...that sense?" he said, with incredulity mixed with a slight dash of horror...which he quickly squashed. "Best not make a fuss. I...we owe them that much."

He followed her, but laughed to himself "Misery makes strange bedfellows indeed..."

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Alice and Vastra reappeared soon, some policemen behind them hefting a large mirror. In fact, a veritable army of policemen followed in Vastra's wake, each armed with truncheons and handcuffs. A couple of armored carriages followed them, full of restrained persons from all stations – Toby Russell, Cardin Varnham, Trenton Haymitch, George Renfrew, as well as Charles Dodgson and the Hargreaves family. They snarled muffled curses at their captors, but their restraints held fast.

"I can't wait to see these folks return to their senses." said a policeman at random.

Vastra turned in his direction, rather suddenly; "You will. Just be patient. And watch for any others – these were the victims we knew about, but there's little doubt the Mara has infected so much more."

With that, Vastra directed the policemen carrying the mirror inside. There, it was placed next to the others in the drawing room, while Richard looked on with awe.

"I still can't believe she has this much authority with the police."

"Captain owed her a favor, s'all." was the response of an officer, after which he said no more.

Richard's desire to ask follow-up questions was superseded by his relief upon seeing Alice enter.

"How are you feeling, Richard?" she asked.

"Nervous, that's for sure. I know what success and failure looks like for invention, but not for fighting dream demons."

"Well, one way or another, today is when it ends." said Alice solemnly, as she clutched a piece of paper tighter to her chest.

This made the paper conspicuous enough that Richard asked: "What is that?"

"A letter from Dr. Wilson. The superintendent of Rutledge's; I wrote to him just before I left for Dodgson, in hopes he might help with my problems. Part of why I wanted to stop home is to see if he sent me this reply, and whether or not it has something that might help."

"And...does it?"

Alice gave no verbal response. Instead, she looked at the writing again, and then she focused her gaze upon Richard's own. Their gazes remained locked for several seconds as imperceptible emotions washed over their faces one right after another...

...until finally, Alice broke the spell with a nod, and turned away.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

At length, the police busied themselves manning positions throughout the manor, ready to repel any intruders, while Alice, Richard, Vastra and Jenny arranged the drawing room to their specifications:

All the mirrors were arranged into a circle, with Alice inside on a chair, facing the mirror from her flat.

"Are you ready?" asked Vastra, ready to close the circle.

"Almost." replied Alice as she rolled up her sleeve, regarding the Mara's scarred image on her arm.

"Remember, the Mara is a glutton and cannot stop feeding. But while it has a source of negative energy, it has a link to this world. Forcing it to feed on itself, on the energy it's already consumed, is the only way to weaken it, and send it back into the Dark Places of the Inside. The circle of mirrors can isolate it from its external sources of fuel, but it still has your dark side to feed off."

"Right," said Alice with a nod, "And as soon as you close the circle it'll force me into Wonderland so my vision is directed inwards – looking at itself is the same as feeding on itself."

"Exactly. So until you can get the Mara outside your body, you have to isolate the Mara from your negative emotions. Remember what I taught you about the still point?"

Again, Alice nodded. "Every storm has an eye. If my thoughts are a swirling typhoon, I can find rest in the center."

"Good. Normally one needs practice in meditation to do that, but you've shown an ability to manage your thoughts through other means."

"True, but I think your advice will be useful nonetheless."

"...Then there's nothing more we can do. It's all on you now. No pressure."

Without further delay, Vastra moved the last mirror into place, closing the circle.

The effect was immediate.

A feeling of emptiness washed over Alice, combined with a sensation of being pulled apart and forced back together all at once.

The tattoo-like growth on her arm wriggled and writhed like a snake in its death throes, tearing at her skin. She coughed and choked on her own blood. White-hot light poured from her eyes, searing her eyelids.

"Alice?" called Richard from outside the circle; "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" she yelled through clenched teeth. "This is not my pain! It's the Mara's!"

As if in response, the pain doubled in intensity. But Alice remained defiant: "I'm...Not...YOU!"

The light pouring from her eyes bounced off the mirrors and enveloped her whole body, burning away at every inch of her skin. Her breathing accelerated, as less and less oxygen entered her lungs. The concerned voices of her friends faded away into a cacophony of screams.

But through it all, Alice remained aware: the Mara wanted to make her share its pain. And she knew exactly how to put a stop to that. She closed her eyes and focused. Focused on pulling herself inward, and forcing the burning sensation outwards. Focused on what happens to things surrounded by fire...

...until it became true for herself as well. The fire outside burned and hardened her skin until it scorched into a solid outer layer of ash. Ash that encased her like a prison of solid rock.

The fire subsided and left the ashen statue of Alice in its place. For several seconds things remained still.

Then, at last, it happened: cracks began to appear in the ashy chrysalis, and blue light escaped from within. A loud crack heralded the statue finally splitting open, revealing Alice, completely unharmed...

...and dressed in the blue, knee-length dress she used to wear to Wonderland. Gone were the long sleeves, ankle-covering petticoats, and other fancy attachments. Here were the striped stockings, the thick leather boots, the bloodstained apron, and the long flowing hair. Here was the outfit that she wore when Wonderland was in danger, and she was ready to save it.

The burning returned, but Alice was prepared this time: she dodged the heated rays, and leaped into the familiar mirror, leaving the Mara's attacks behind.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

On the outside, Alice's screaming stopped.

Richard, Jenny, and Vastra peeked through cracks in the circle of mirrors, and saw Alice seated in deep concentration. The snake tattoo on her arm pulsated and writhed, and blood dripped from it and from Alice's mouth onto both her dress and the carpet. Her eyes were a dull yellow, but not entirely snake-like. She trembled...but her breathing was slow, and calm. And still she clutched Dr. Wilson's letter to her chest.

Carefully, they closed the gaps, as Vastra said: "It's done. The final confrontation has begun, and she's doing her part. Now, let us do our part. Remember, the Mara's primary connection to this world may be in Alice, but parts of itself are still nestled all over London. We must be ready."

Vastra and Jenny left the room to see if the police reported anything, but Richard stayed behind.

"Hold on, Alice. If not for us, then for you." he said, barely resisting the urge to pull the mirrors aside and hold her in his arms.

Then, with some deep breaths, he settled into his role: yelling if someone got into the room.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

…...

…...

For the briefest of seconds, Alice was alone in every sense of the word. But then she entered Wonderland.

What was left of it, at least.

All the plants and animals, even some of the odd minerals, had disappeared. So too had recognizable decorations and landmarks, like the giant toys constructed from her memories, or the road markers she had lain throughout with the help of the White Queen's forces. Furthermore, no matter how much she focused her senses, she couldn't even see the chalk drawings of the Insane Children. Not even the slightest trace of water remained. Only swooping cliffs on one side, sloping mountains on the other, and nothing but a canyon full of small jagged stones as far as her eyes could see.

The Vale of Tears was now little more than a gravel quarry.

In an instant, Alice knew what was responsible. "I know you're out there, Mara!"

 _Out there? We're deep within the Inside._

"Yes...the Dark Places of the Inside," Alice admitted, before yelling at the sky: "But Wonderland is a realm apart! My mind is my domain, and you're trespassing!"

 _Wrong, Alice. I am this world. You're the trespasser, because you believe yourself separate from me._

"Simply wanting something doesn't make it yours!"

 _Wrong again. All that is is rightfully mine. Mine to control, mine to corrupt, mine...to consume._

Alice chose that moment to leap off the ground, and not an instant too soon, as nearly a dozen golden snakes burst from the gravel and tried to bite at her heels. She twirled in the air, and landed out of the snakes' reach...

...and didn't allow herself a moment's rest before she started running. Wherever she stepped, snakes would burst up and try in vain to snare her. Upon failing, they would disappear just as fast as they appeared.

As she ran, Alice tried to summon her familiar weapons – but none, not even the Vorpal Blade, answered her call.

 _You cannot fight yourself, Alice._

"You really don't understand me at all, Mara." Alice remarked; "I spent ten years in Rutledge's doing exactly that!"

 _That was long ago, Alice. And now, you face not only the strength of the Red Queen, but the strength you used to defeat her._

"Yet I face none of yours." snapped Alice, still running at her top speed. "It's taking all you have to hold on to me, and ignore the circle of mirrors surrounding you!"

 _It's still more than you can defeat on your own, Alice. Soon you will beg to surrender your last trace of resistance, and awaken to the pleasure of existing as us._

At this, Alice smirked, and stopped running. "Let me ask you something first," she asked, "What are you going to do once you have control over me?"

 _Isn't it obvious? We shall blur the barriers between the physical plane and the Dark Places of the Inside. All the world will be a dream for us to shape as we see fit, a dream shared by all humanity. The world will be engulfed in madness, madness on which we shall feed; but we won't stop there. The darkness within all will empower us, and we will spread throughout the stars. We shall turn the wheel of time for all the cosmos, and bring chaos from order, as the rightful owners of all existence._

Alice crossed her arms, still smirking: "Grandiose, but that's not what I was talking about. I was talking about the mirrors. Once I am you, won't the mirrors hurt me as well?"

 _The mirrors don't exist in the Dark Places of the Inside. With your power, we can ignore all our weaknesses as we see fit._

Alice's smirk grew imperceptibly wider. "Then our merger won't be – cannot be – complete until the mirrors are gone. After all, your greatest weakness is if you feed on yourself. To survive long enough to get out of the circle of mirrors, you'll need another source of negative energy...like the one you're likely using right now."

Alice paused, and focused on expanding her senses. She attuned herself to be alerted at the slightest sound, tremor, or movement.

A pebble shivered only once, but Alice noticed it – and as soon as she did, she dissolved into butterflies, just in time to avoid a snake bursting from the ground to bite her.

But before the snake could retract into the ground, Alice reformed her body and grasped the snake with all her might.

So when the snake was pulled into the ground, she was pulled along with it.

…...

…...

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Unobserved within the circle of mirrors, Alice moved slightly. She barely even made a sound against the soft leather of her chair.

With that movement, her left hand turned over, making the contents of Dr. Wilson's letter visible to the corner of her eye:

 _Dear Alice._

 _It brings me no small discomfort to hear that you once again suffer misfortune due to your condition. My memories of you were of the times you turned your condition to your advantage; when you became so intimately familiar with the depths of your subconscious most of the professionals I know in the field of psychiatric medicine seem like quacks in comparison._

 _Rutledge has made considerable strides since your last visit. We now have nurses which are fully aware what treatments are effective for which symptoms, and not what would be the most punishing for a frustrating patient. I'm sad to say we're still on the lookout for treatments that accomplish the same ends, and are yet less dangerous to the patient, than trepanning and lobotomies. I have, however, begun working on new forms of drug treatment that have shown some promise, eclipsing the effectiveness of laudanum in calming the most violent lunatics. With some patients, the drugs have been enough to ease their minds of traumas associated with violent history; and if we can find a way to make its effects last outside the asylum without discharging an addict, I can't begin to number the families that will thank our institution._

 _However, as per your ongoing request, I grant your right to remain outside the walls and deal with this problem in your own way. With God's grace, you and Mr. Dodgson may have discovered a solution by the time you read this letter. But just in case you haven't, I shall attempt to provide advice._

Alice's hand dropped at this point, obscuring the remainder of the letter from her subconscious...but not from memory.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

…..

…...

The snake pulled her through the rough earth at an alarmingly fast pace. Dust and rocks of all sizes rushed past her, tearing at her dress and whipping at her face – it took all of her concentration to hold on to the snake as it continued its retreat.

Still, however, she held on.

 _Why hurt yourself like this?_

Alice didn't reply, partially out of a desire to keep the dust out of her mouth, and partially to frustrate the Mara.

 _Your pain makes me stronger, and gains you nothing. How does this help you delay our union?_

Once again, Alice remained silent.

 _Everything you can do will be turned against you. I took your familiar thoughts and locked them away, leaving nothing in Wonderland save you and me. You have no strength left that I do not own, and I have the accumulated power of hundreds of human minds to call upon as well. The more you resist, the more pain you will receive, and I will not be one iota weaker. Surrender, Alice._

As the Mara spoke, her surroundings rapidly changed to thicker rocks; with smoother, more defined walls in place of loose stone, which Alice assumed to be carved by the snake. These were much less painful to travel through for Alice, but still she remained silent – she focused instead on blocking out the pain from traveling through the gravel.

 _What are you doing?_

The snake head she was clinging to hissed in anger, but Alice pretended she didn't care. In fact, she was almost unresponsive...

...until a soft, slippery liquid began to ooze from the rocks the snake dragged her through. A liquid that felt like a mixture of saliva and blood.

Then, Alice smiled, and responded:

"You've taken all of my strength, have you? Well then, I'll take some of yours."

Alice suddenly let go of the retreating snake, but continued to slide along the corridor it had carved out of the rocks, propelled by the surrounding fluids...

...until the snake, and she behind it, slid out into a vast chasm.

Alice opened her dress as a parachute, and observed her surroundings as she floated downwards: the walls, which dripped with the disgusting liquids, were lined with snakes of seemingly infinite length. Many of them turned from their paths to gaze at her with glowing yellow eyes. Above her she could see more snakes, and below her she could see nothing but darkness.

But all the snakes that lined the walls arose from that darkness. And in the dim light she could see pulses of bioluminescence traveling up the snakes' bodies. Thus, her theory was confirmed.

"You didn't hide away _all_ of Wonderland. You _couldn't_. You can't stop feeding. And you needed my dark side to sustain yourself while surrounded by the mirrors. And it looks like its down there."

 _Yes. Everything you hate about yourself is down there._

"Everything I thought would hurt me...everything I've rejected...but now, it's time to accept this side of me."

Alice pressed her hands into her dress, ending its usefulness as a parachute. The snakes lunged for her, but she was already tumbling down into the darkness.

Trusting herself and her hunch, she angled herself downwards...

…...,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,...

….and landed in a pool of blood, deep within the heart of Queensland.

She was disoriented at first, but she was able to swim to the surface, and wipe the blood from her eyes so she could see.

What she saw was the stone, organs, and cards of the Red Queen's land as brilliant and lively as they were in the days when madness ruled. The only difference was: where there were once slimy tentacles spreading out into all of Wonderland, there were now scaly red snake bodies, which spread out into not only the land but the sky.

"Seeing so many snakes has already gotten quite droll." she said to herself, thinking no one else was around.

She was quickly proven wrong.

A mass of tentacles rose from the pool below her, lifting her into the air, and carrying her towards the ornate castle.

There, protruding out of the balcony, sat the Queen of Hearts. Bedecked in splendid black robes, she extended her body forward into Alice's face.

" _How dare you come here, where you know you're not wanted?"_ snarled the Elizabeth Liddel lookalike through her paper-thin teeth.

"I come for your help, your Majesty. You are all that is left of my mind, and without you, I cannot hope to resist the Mara. I know you resent having foreigners control Wonderland, and the Mara -"

" _Silence! You speak of things you do not know. All that matters is my revenge...and you have given it to me._ "

Doubt swelled up in Alice's breast: had she miscalculated? Is the Queen's hatred of her really that strong?

Alice had no time to ask herself further questions, as the tentacles wrapped themselves around her, and forcefully shoved her into the Queen's mouth...

…...,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,...

….down a cavernous gullet, and into a gut the size of a cathedral. There the tentacles dropped her, and retreated.

The darkness obscured most of the details. But darker still was the worries within Alice. Her gamble had failed her, and the Queen had been her enemy all along. Soon the Mara would come to claim her as its own, with nothing she could do to prevent it.

She thought of those who were counting on her in the world outside. Vastra, Jenny, Dodgson... Richard... they were fools to trust her alone with this task. Try as she might, she couldn't find the slightest trace of hope.

" **I see you're feeling hopeless, Alice. Good.** " bellowed a familiar voice.

"...why?" she asked, barely whispering.

" _Because as your strength dwindles, ours increases._ "

"And do you know what we're going to do with it, Alice?"

The three creatures breathed fire around the room, illuminating the cavernous stomach. All around were muscles and bones, and heart-shaped eyes that bobbed up and down as if giggling. The Jabberwock, JubJub Bird and Bandersnatch towered over her, poised to attack.

With no energy left to even be afraid, Alice simply closed her eyes and awaited the inevitable...

" **We're going to help you."**

Alice gasped, and felt her energy return in an instant.

"The Queen got your message." said the JubJub Bird, as it threw a silvery object at Alice: A glittering memory, shaped like a syringe.

As soon as it hit the ground, its contents began to leak out.

 _My strongest memory of your time associated with my care is your lengthy struggle with the evil Red Queen, a name you gave to your survivor's guilt and denial of reality. She wished to keep you locked away in your Wonderland forever, eternally punished for your supposed failures and equally supposed fear of the truth. Your taking a stand and resisting her coincided with your periods of lucidity, and limited ability to recognize me as someone from the real world. There are times when I fancied my treatments as helping; laudanum healing your wounds after a long battle, and strychnine to empower your magical weapons; but it was more likely that you found such vitality and willpower within yourself._

 _If it should turn out that the Queen is attempting a comeback, then here's my advice: use her strengths against her. Guilt was one of her strongest assets, manifested within the Jabberwock. However, as our attempts at reformation have proven, guilt can also prove a motivator for redemption. The trick is to separate the guilt that claims you are a bad person from the guilt that claims you did a bad thing. Separate yourself from your actions, and your guilt forces you to ask how you can make things better. Fear, too, can be constructive; fear is what gets a person's blood pumping, and enables them to escape from danger. That's what courage really is: not the absence of fear, but deriving strength from that fear to do what needs to be done._

 _On the other hand, maybe Wonderland is trying to send a warning message, as it was when Dr. Bumby's abusive treatments created the Dollmaker. Search your history, and identify the outside influence. If it's exploiting a desire of yours, such as your desire to forget the pain of the past, take control of that desire – and ask yourself if the fulfillment of that desire is really in your best interests._

The memory of reading Dr. Wilson's letter faded, and Alice once again regarded the three monsters.

"So, what was all that before? Why pretend to betray me?"

"The Queen needed to get you to us, in a place where we cannot be disturbed by the Mara. At least, not until you're ready to face it."

Satisfied with the explanation, Alice stepped towards the monsters and said. "Very well then, let's not waste any more time. We must get ready to fight-"

" _No,_ you _must get ready. We cannot leave here...not while the Mara relies on us for strength."_

Alice didn't have time to express any disappointment before the Jabberwock growled: " **But we can give you this**."

As soon as the Jabberwock finished growling, it reached towards its own face with its claw, and plunged the sharp edges deep into its own flesh. Fire and lightning spewed out as it roared in pain, and pulled something out of its eye socket, trails of blood following it out.

Whatever it was, the Jabberwock quickly dropped it, right into Alice's hands. Alice shook the blood off, and smirked.

Within her hands lay the complete Jabberwock's Eye Staff.

* * *

The final confrontation has begun! Who will live? Who will die? And what pain awaits the losers as well as the winners?

Find out next time!


	11. Only The Savage

Disclaimer: I do not own American McGee's Alice or Doctor Who. They are owned by Electronic Arts and the BBC respectively.

* * *

Chapter 11: Only The Savage...

* * *

Within her hands lay the complete Jabberwock's Eye Staff.

"How long has it been..." she mused to herself as she turned over the twisted, glittering wooden weapon in her hand, while the mounted eye glowed a dim yellow in response.

With this in her hand during her teenage years, she ripped through the Red Queen's playing card armies like wind through a dandelion patch, and flayed the flesh from their vile monarch's bones. She even turned the weapon against its progenitor, in revenge for the death of the great Gryphon. With this in her hand, she was unstoppable.

"This will definitely help with fighting the Mara." she said with confidence...but she knew better than to let confidence run unchecked by caution. "Anything I should be wary of before using this?"

The Jabberwock responded, while trying to staunch the bleeding from its eye socket. " **This weapon and the Mara draw power from the same source. Although it can help you fight, any pain it causes will be temporary. Relying on this weapon will get you nowhere.** "

Alice took in the warning and nodded in understanding, but gripped the staff even tighter. "Any resistance is better than none."

" **True. But resistance alone is not enough to overcome this overwhelming force. For that, only one tool will suffice.** "

"The Vorpal Blade." said Alice. "I don't suppose you'd know where I could find it?"

All three creatures shook their heads, causing Alice to laugh slightly. "Of course. It was your Mara-controlled impostors that stole it, after all. But do you know who does know where it is?"

" _Only those the Mara holds in captivity know where it is._ " said the Bandersnatch.

"You may find them, however, inside the belly of the largest serpent. It's feeding off the Heart of the Queen as we speak." added the JubJub Bird.

"Then that's where I'll go." replied Alice with determination, as she turned and walked away. "Thank you for all your help."

" **We're not done yet.** " bellowed the Jabberwock, before Alice could take another step.

Before Alice could ask what he meant, the Bandersnatch and JubJub Bird stepped forward, and leaned over Alice...

…...,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,...

 _Where is Alice?_

The Queen of Hearts regarded the giant snake with a venom even more potent than that within its own fangs. Her throne arose on a bed of tentacles, attempting to enable her to look down on the snake – but as tall as she could grow, the snake could grow even taller.

It infuriated her to no end.

" _She's lost and helpless within me, serpent._ " she growled. " _She came seeking the power to resist you, but instead found only the strength that empowers you._ "

 _Lies and half-truths. I know she plans to turn my strength against me. She said so herself!_

" _How can she? She rejected me, and I reject her. She does not rule Wonderland. Not anymore."_

 _Well then, show her to me._

The Red Queen smirked, and opened her mouth wide. The giant serpent gazed inside...

...and, quite suddenly, a bolt of searing purple energy shot up from inside her throat, and pushed the snake back.

When the snake recovered, Alice was before it...but not the weak, helpless woman it was promised.

She floated in the air, held aloft by the gold and red metal wings of the JubJub Bird, haphazardly attached to her back. A clockwork engine sat between the wings, spewing propulsive fire from the Hollow Yves skull ornament on her bow, which now resembled the Jabberwock's face.

The JubJub Bird's claws dangled from Alice's feet, cleaner and sharper than they'd ever looked before.

Alice wore a new dress made from the animate fur of the Bandersnatch, continuously rearranging itself in a dazzling display of black and blue thread, with a touch of glowing golden thread for the symbols of Virgo and Pisces. Some furs on the bottom shook off what remained of the Red Queen's saliva.

A long coil of black rope dangled from her side, tipped with all ten of the Bandersnatch's harpoon-like claws.

The Jabberwock's Eye Staff smouldered in her hand, the eyeball twitching like a thing possessed.

In short, one look at her told the Mara it was, in fact, going to take a lot more effort to subdue Alice.

…...

…...

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"Richard! It's happening!" yelled Jenny from the lower floor.

Instead of replying, Richard ran to a room with a boarded-up window, and saw for himself.

More than a hundred people were climbing over the wrought-iron fence surrounding the Hargreaves estate; men, women, and children alike. They trampled plants, and each other, with equal disregard. And every single one of them had similarly glowing eyes.

"By God..." Richard swore to himself. "That's a lot more than I expected." As soon as those words left his mouth, however, he chastised himself for expecting anything less.

He also checked himself in the hand mirror Vastra gave him, and found no discomfort or distortions. Another look at the crowd outside, however, made him wonder how long it would last.

…...,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,...

Jenny's shouted warning was also heard by the policemen, and they all tensed up and got into position.

The first group pressed their weight against the door. The second group waited at the top of the stairs, holding a table sideways as a makeshift barricade. A third group waited with another barricade, made of even more furniture, around the hallway corner leading to the other rooms. Others waited around various windows on each floor, to ensure the boards (and the bars outside) held up.

Vastra and Jenny ran along all of these emplacements, checking the fortifications...and once Vastra saw the horde they faced, she issued an order that was quickly obeyed:

"Forget the ground floor. Fall back."

Some were grateful to be taken out of the most dangerous area, but others were concerned that they had underestimated the danger in their plans.

All of the policemen started shivering as soon as the crowd outside started banging on the door, and cracking the glass of the ground floor windows. Every instinct they had told them to abandon this mad quest – undertaken at the request of a disfigured woman at that – but their sense of duty kept them in place.

At last, the door gave way, and the mad horde scrambled over themselves to reach the stairs.

The policemen at the top of the stairs grabbed the overturned table, and held it up like a shield. The possessed people crashed against them like a barbarian horde, scratching and clawing at whatever exposed body parts they could find.

Through clenched teeth, one of them yelled "PUSH!" and they threw all of their might against the wave of people. It took two tries, but on the second they threw some of the assailants down the stairs, knocking half a dozen people off their feet.

They were quickly trampled by their companions, who had no instinct of group preservation (or self-preservation, for that matter, as evidenced by the shards of broken glass sticking out of some of them).

This time, the assailants grabbed at the table; and the next time the policemen pushed, it was sent hurtling down the stairs as well.

This time, their fear got the better of them, and they ran for the next barricade. On the way, however, one of them tripped. His companions only noticed when they got behind the barricade, and believed they were going to watch him die before their eyes...

...when Madame Vastra leapt into action.

The prone policeman found a whirling display of chops, throws, and kicks standing between him and the possessed horde. Fortunately he didn't allow himself a moment to be awestruck; instead, he scrambled to join his companions behind the barricade.

Vastra stayed in the front of the horde for half a minute, until she was sure the policeman was safe. Then, with a single graceful leap, she was behind the barricade as well.

Before the grateful policeman could thank her, however, she said: "Bad news. They don't feel pain, or they're very good at ignoring it."

"So we can't stop them?"

"I don't know how," she said with a steely expression, "but somehow we must."

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

…...

…...

Alice hovered before the massive snake, never once breaking eye contact. The snake bared its fangs, but Alice's gaze never faltered. If anything, her grip on the Jabberwock's Eye Staff tightened.

" _Crush it_!" shouted the Red Queen from below; " _Flay it alive! Make it regret ever stealing authority from me! Prolong its suffering! And then, when it lies on the ground bleeding and begging for mercy...OFF WITH ITS HEAD!_ "

Alice glanced back at the raving monarch with an amused grin; "I think we finally understand each other."

She regained her serious expression, and looked at the snake once again. "As for you...I'm half inclined to let you make the first move."

The snake took the invitation. It opened its mouth, and out shot multiple two-pronged tongues, ready to lash and restrain Alice...

...but she was ready. She twisted her body, and slashed at the tongues with the JubJub Bird's wings on her back.

The snake recoiled in pain, and Alice took advantage of its distraction; she flapped her wings hard, causing more fire to spew from her 'engine', and propel her towards the center of Queensland, with the giant snake in pursuit.

She shook her staff and focused her energy into it, causing purple energy to coalesce at a point before the eye's pupil. A dozen new snakes appeared out of the snakeskin-covered sky in front of Alice, and lunged at her, but not fast enough; at that exact moment the staff finished charging, and she unleashed a beam of white hot purple light.

The beam slammed into the snakes face first, peeling off scales and searing flesh, and leaving glowing purple trails that continued to burn ever deeper into the affected monsters. Engulfed in pain, they turned away and let Alice pass by unmolested.

The giant snake head, however, started to close the distance. Alice could feel its hot breath through her boots. So, she turned around and ended the channeling of energy through the staff – forcing the remnant out the end as a fireball, which flew right into the snake's open mouth. It exploded as soon as it contacted something solid, and the onrushing snake halted its progress at once, to cough the blood and smoke out of its throat.

Alice had won a moment of respite, but only a moment; a quick glance behind her revealed that the once-serious wounds that afflicted the pursuing snakes were healing at a visibly fast rate. Soon, all of the snakes she had passed were rearing for a strike. With seconds to spare, she folded the JubJub Bird wings into her sides, and dropped out of the sky as a means of dodging them.

She pulled out of the dive as soon as it served its purpose, and not a second too soon: once again, snakes started popping out of the ground.

She lowered her feet and raked the snakes with her talons as she passed, ripping off chunks of flesh.

Before she could savor any victory, however, a massive snake appeared in front of her, and she was only barely able to soar back into the sky, preventing it from swallowing her by mere seconds.

 _This is your plan? To use my strength against me? I thrive on pain and suffering!_

Alice didn't bother responding to the Mara's taunts at first. She was too busy looking out for the next attack, so she could dodge or counter it.

 _You'd have more luck using my strength against others. Turn the never-ending cycle of suffering with me, and share in the spoils! With all of Earth dreaming me into existence, I shall manifest on a scale never before heard of. Neighboring civilizations will fall under my sway in seconds. My reign shall eclipse the Sumaran Empire in scope and in duration – no one will be immune to my powers this time. And with you as a part of me, you shall know joy of the kind your mortal perception cannot begin to comprehend._

Since there were no attacks coming, however, Alice responded: "You keep trying to convince me that you and I are the same...but if that's the case, you should know by now that feeding off the suffering of others is the last thing I want!"

 _It won't be anyone you care about. Those, you will pull into the dream that fuels my manifestation. They will be part of us as well, as will our most loyal servants. There will be no effort to resist us, but all will scramble over each other to earn our favor._

"To take advantage of how broken we made the world?"

 _The world was already broken long before I was given sentience on Manussa. I was born from the misery of the universe. As long as life exists, so shall I. They only need to acknowledge my rule to accept the truth of the world: there will always be suffering, and fulfillment can only come from embracing it._

Alice grimaced in response. "Throughout my life I have learned that those who take whatever they want, and hurt whoever they please, are evil. And it is the duty of moral beings to avoid being evil at all costs."

 _I'm familiar with that message. Here's an interesting bit of trivia: all too often that message is preached by evil people who don't want competition. The only difference between them and me is that I thrive on competition._

"It still doesn't change the point that you are everything I have been taught to hate. You once had a chance, before I knew what you really were. But now that I know your true nature, Mara, why do you still think you can convince me to join you? Or even make me believe I want it?"

A dull throbbing coursed through the atmosphere, bearing with it a series of low rumblings that resembled some perverse form of laughter.

 _So you think resistance is good? How can it, when it has brought death to the doorstep of your closest friends?_

"I know what you're trying to do, Mara." said Alice, her flight pattern faltering imperceptibly. "You're saying your earthly victims will come to break the circle of mirrors, and hold my friends hostage until I give in. We all knew that was a possibility when we started this plan, but we went through with it anyway. Explain that."

 _You are overconfident. You think you stand a chance against a living force of nature. Face facts, Alice: While you're trapped in here with me, fighting with weapons that cannot hurt me, your friends will die in agony._

"No they won't. They'll survive, long enough for me to figure out your weaknesses. You will not triumph."

 _Listen how casually you dismiss the impossible odds you face! You might as well try to hold back a hurricane. What makes you believe that victory is even possible?_

"That's easy," said Alice, "I hold on to the belief that everything will work out in the end."

 _That's overconfidence._

"That's faith. Something you can't understand because you can't feed off it."

 _Where do you get it from?_

Once again, Alice smiled. "That's a good question, actually. I've been fighting you for some time...and yet, I have seen no trace of the Pigeon. Considering he represents the part of my mind that resists you, he should have shown up by now."

 _How do you know he's not dead?_

"Because I haven't surrendered yet."

Again, the dull laughter echoed throughout Queensland.

 _You're trying to get me to show you where I've hidden them, so you can find the Vorpal Blade._

As the Mara spoke, Alice felt herself becoming worried. She squashed that worry as best she could.

 _The Blade is beyond your reach; even if you knew where it is, you wouldn't be able to obtain it._

"Well, could you at least show me my friends? It's bound to get boring, talking and fighting you nonstop."

 _I could make things more interesting for you._

"Really? How could you possibly hold my interest?" she asked...and then, with a laugh, she asked another question: "Are you going to try and hypnotize me with your glowing snake eyes?"

 _Now what good will that do? I know your history with hypnosis – you'd reject it. As fun as it would be to dig up your trauma from Bumby's care, it wouldn't serve my purpose. So instead, I shall..._

The Mara's echoing speech trailed off, as it noticed Alice had turned her attention away from the conversation. Instead, she was scanning the horizon, looking through the haze surrounding the Red Queen's enormous castle...

...and finally her gaze rested on a dull orange glow, coming from the middle of a distant hedge maze. Without a second to spare, she flapped her wings and zipped towards the glow.

 _What are you doing?_

Alice didn't answer. Instead, she shook the Jabberwock's Eye Staff and charged its beam attack, aiming it at the glowing spot hanging in the middle of the sky.

The beam stopped just before the glowing spot, but instead started burning a visible mark on the side of a massive snake – one who's scales were colored to look like its surroundings. It's eyes appeared, and its slightly loosened its mouths grip on a massive mound of red flesh, which Alice quickly recognized as part of the Red Queen's body/castle.

"Clever. You knew I was looking for the Heart of the Queen, so you hid the snake feeding on it. But I seem to be just as clever."

With that, Alice intensified the beam assaulting the giant snake. The burn mark expanded, as the invisible snake's flesh carbonized under the heat. Alice ended the beam and a fireball shortly followed, tearing a hole in the side of the snake, as if it was solid rock blown apart by a stick of dynamite.

Before Alice could move closer, however, several dozen snake heads appeared all at once – out of the ground and sky at the same time.

 _You will not move an inch!_

Alice held the staff straight upwards, and charged it with all her energy. Small motes of energy shot up to the sky...

...but before anything else happened, all of the snake's eyes focused their glowing energy on Alice's own, to the effect of dominating her field of vision. Burning away every thought in her head until only thoughts of the glow remained.

Alice couldn't see the hole she had made in the giant snake. Alice couldn't see the snakes around her. Alice couldn't see the brilliance of Queensland. Alice couldn't see herself.

There were no snakes. There was no Mara. There was no Alice.

There was no past, present, or future.

There was only the glow.

 _Drop the staff._

Alice's grip on the Jabberwock's Eye Staff relaxed, and it fell to the ground. Alice didn't even notice.

 _So I guess I was wrong; I did find a way to use it to my advantage. You really shouldn't have given me the idea to hypnotize you. Now I'll..._

Suddenly, purple bolts rained from the sky and struck all the snakes at once. They flinched as one and turned away from Alice, who quickly snapped out of her trance.

"Urgh!" she groaned, and she sized up the situation. The snake heads were smouldering from the delayed meteor attack she'd summoned earlier. The Jabberwock's Eye Staff, which she quickly realized she dropped, was nestled in some bushes far below her; and the bloody red hole she carved in the snake was rapidly closing. She didn't have time to address both at once...

...At least, that's how it seemed at first. But then, Alice pulled the coil of rope off her side, and cast it down at the dropped staff.

The instant it looped around it, she pulled it up, and with the same movement zoomed towards the closing hole.

"You fell right into my trap, Mara!" Alice taunted as she flew at top speed. "I gave you that idea so you'd gain a power I would know how to counter! If you want to convince me I'm overconfident, you'll have to try something else!"

Not giving the Mara a chance to respond, she pulled her wings close to her body so she slipped right through the hole, the rope and staff trailing behind her, seconds before it healed itself shut.

…...,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,...

The inside of the snake's body was dark, but the fire spewing from the engine on her back provided enough light to navigate as long as she flew slowly.

Alice was used to innards, owing to her history of navigating the Red Queen's castle. But the inside of this manifestation of the Mara's control over Wonderland somehow managed to unnerve her still.

The bones that lined the roof and the walls were there, but they seemed to be conspicuously empty voids, blacker than night, rather than normal white bones. The flesh was dry and cracked, like a lakebed starved of water, and yet it still moved and throbbed as if it had life. A river of digestive fluids flowed beneath her, pulling air towards it rather than radiating, but it still gave Alice all the memories of her sickest days. Even more unnerving, smaller snakes seemed to be growing from all over, attempting to pull themselves off the walls and attack Alice.

It was a reversal of everything she knew, and it was disorienting at first. After a little while, however, Alice was able to ignore it. Thus, she refocused her attention on the light at the end of the tunnel, which she floated towards.

Shortly, she found herself in a vast cavern, illuminated by hundreds upon hundreds of glowing eyes, attached to hundreds upon hundreds of snake heads. And floating before each head, frozen and entranced, were the people she had been searching for: The Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, the Butterfly, the Mad Hatter, the White Queen, and all the others. She even saw the White Knight and the Pigeon, the only ones with even the slightest amount of visible motion, as they struggled in vain to break the serpent's gaze.

Without a second to spare, Alice went to work. She focused on the Jabberwock's Eye Staff, and drew power into it...from the snake heads! The yellow glow of their eyes was pulled away from their Wonderland victims, and coalesced into a purple orb that hovered just before Alice. Shocked and confused, the heads turned towards Alice...

….who then sent the orb at them, where it bounced from head to head, burning their scales and pushing them back into the walls! Their eyes' light faded until all that remained were pinpricks protruding from the walls. It was just enough to see, but the hypnotic power the glow contained was sealed away.

As the heads disappeared, Alice turned towards her not-so-imaginary friends, as they regained their motion and awareness of their surroundings. Relief washed over her...and then shock, as gravity suddenly regained its hold over them, and pulled them towards the digestive pool below.

Thinking quickly, Alice threw the coil of Bandersnatch rope below them, and focused her power into it. It obeyed her will, and wove itself into a massive net, attaching itself to the edges of the cavern with the harpoon claws. Everyone landed on it completely unharmed, and Alice was once again relieved.

She landed on the net beside them, folded up her metallic wings, and collapsed in exhaustion. Using the Jabberwock's Eye Staff always took a toll on her energy, and it seemed to be the case even when she was channeling the Mara's own power.

Her friends rushed to her side, and the White Rabbit, White Queen, and White Knight helped her to a seated position. The Knight then gave her some Meta-Essence, the last of his supply.

Alice breathed deeply, got her heartbeat under control, and then said "Thank you."

"We should be thanking you!" said the White Queen. "You saved us from the Mara!"

"We're not safe yet." Alice replied. "It knows we're in here. It could strike at any moment."

"So what will we do?" called a concerned voice from the crowd, though Alice could tell it was the Mock Turtle speaking.

Alice gathered her thoughts. It didn't take her long to remember Vastra's words about the 'still point.'

"Rabbit," she asked, "Do you know where the center of Wonderland is?"

"The origin? Of course. All of Wonderland orbits around that point! It's the one constant in this chaotic world!"

"Perfect. The Mara hates constancy. We'll be safe there." And with that, Alice spread her wings, and prepared to take flight...

...but then the White Queen interrupted. "But without the Vorpal Blade, we won't be able to make it in."

Alice folded her wings, and sighed in disappointment. "Then...does anyone know where the Vorpal Blade is?"

All of the denizens of Wonderland shook their heads, or whatever counted for such.

"Really? The JubJub Bird said you'd know where it is!"

"I know where it _was_ ," said the Hatter, "But Marous forces stole it just as I was captured!"

"What?" Alice exclaimed. "But that's...how can it even touch it?"

At that point, the Cheshire Cat materialized in front of her, looking emaciated once more.

" _Wonderland changes as you change. The Mara was the most significant change to ever happen to this world; and it, in turn, made some changes of its own. Small things, at first, designed to make you believe you were losing control of your mind."_

" _It increased my laziness, so I wouldn't even bother to give you helpful advice. It put the Dodo in charge of decisions regarding your next course of action, making you think your thoughts are unreliable. It strengthened your indecision by prolonging the contest of the Lion and the Unicorn. It listed Bumby as a 'helpful person', in an attempt to rewrite your definition of friend and foe. And it called you into Wonderland at the most inconvenient times."_

" _Once your self-confidence was shattered, it made its most significant changes: creating clones of the Jabberwock, the JubJub Bird, and the Bandersnatch, out of the same emotional energy that spawned the originals...and like newborns, they had no memories of you growing up with those emotions and making them a part of you. No memories of how the Vorpal Blade can go snicker-snack._ "

"...Is that how..?" Alice asked.

" _In part."_ said the Cat as he crawled closer. _"But the real catalyst was that you lost faith in the Blade's power as well. You lost faith in yourself."_

"...You're right." said Alice. "I may not have the Blade, but I do have faith. Confidence. I can and will defeat the Mara. I will save this world, and all my friends."

"That's the spirit, Alice!" cheered the White Knight.

"Besides, half the Serpent's power lies in surprise anyway." chimed in the Pigeon. "Now that we know the enemy we face, we can overcome it."

"No matter what pain it may throw at us!" added the Hatter.

The Cheshire Cat purred. " _Only the savage regard the endurance of pain as a measure of worth...but when pain is unavoidable, the heroic judge themselves by what they accomplish in spite of their pain._ "

"You can do it Alice!" shouted a chorus of happy, hopeful voices, echoing throughout the chamber and washing all over Alice.

"Thank you."

 _For what? For poisoning your head with lies?_

Alice tensed up upon hearing the Mara's voice. The denizens of Wonderland huddled behind her.

"You're the one who doesn't comprehend the notion of honesty! You feed on dishonesty, for Queen's sake!"

 _I am also the one who feeds off of regret, malice, and fear. The only tools you have to fight me. I know you know my weaknesses, but still you don't use them._

"Well then, come out and give me an opportunity to prove you wrong!" yelled Alice as she brandished the Jabberwock's Eye Staff.

 _That will be unexpected. All you've proven to me so far...is how to turn your opponent's power against them._

The skin of the cavern contorted into one giant snake...one that moved slowly to the rope surface, and softly lay down on it.

Alice braced for an attack...

...but all the serpent did was open its mouth.

Inside was a humanoid figure, initially cloaked in shadow. But as it stepped out of the snake's mouth and into the dim light of the cavern, the shock finally made Alice drop her guard.

"What...who are you?" she asked incredulously.

" _I am you, Alice._ "

* * *

Join us next month when Alice takes on her most challenging foe ever: herself!

Don't forget to favorite, follow, and review!


	12. Mirror Match

Disclaimer: I do not own American McGee's Alice (EA) or Doctor Who (BBC)

* * *

Chapter 12: Mirror Match

* * *

" _I am you, Alice."_

Dumbstruck, all of Wonderland did nothing but gaze at the newcomer. Height, weight, hair, eyes, body proportions, and dress all perfectly matched Alice's normal Wonderland form. Since Alice had JubJub Bird wings and talons, a Bandersnatch-fur dress, and a Jabberwock's Eye Staff in her hand, they were easy to tell apart...but other than clothes and weaponry, there was no visible difference.

As she stepped out of the giant snake's mouth, however, she wore an expression of smug satisfaction mixed with poisonous malice, such as Alice had never worn in her life.

"No, you're not." said Alice, as she stepped forward to face her twin. The rest of Wonderland, out of a sense of confusion or respect, stayed back.

"You're just an illusion created by the Mara. If this is your best attempt to make me think we're one and the same, I'm not impressed."

" _You're just an illusion created by the Mara. If this is your best attempt to make me think we're one and the same, I'm not impressed."_

"Stop it!"

" _Stop it!"_

Sensing a pattern, Alice paused, and carefully thought out her next sentence: "The Mara is evil and should be cast out of Wonderland."

" _The Mara is Wonderland."_ responded her copy with a cheeky grin.

Alice sighed in frustration. "I don't have time for this."

With that, she launched herself in the air with her wings. She aimed the Eye Staff at her twin, charging it up for a beam attack.

But before she could unleash it, Alice felt nearly a hundred sharp objects slash through her, all at the same time and from multiple different directions. She cried out in pain as she dropped out of the air, and right back onto the rope floor.

Confused, Alice looked back at her twin. At first, the only difference seemed to be that she was now wielding a deck of razor-sharp playing cards. But, upon closer look, Alice spied the outline of another familiar weapon hiding behind her bow:

"The Deadtime Watch..." Alice said through clenched teeth, as she strained to pull herself back onto her feet.

" _Now do you see?"_ taunted the fake Alice; _"You're not fighting the Mara anymore. You're fighting yourself. And this is a fight you cannot win."_

The fake Alice threw a handful of cards at the real one. She was able to butterfly-dodge out of the way in time, but no sooner did she reform than her enemy attacked her again, forcing her to dodge again.

After a couple of rounds of this, Alice tried something different: she jumped into the air again, dodged the next set of cards in midair, and kicked at her clone with the JubJub talons. This cut a deep gash, and she cried out in pain. Alice landed and turned around, intending to swat her twin with her wings, but her target butterfly-dodged just before the metal wing connected.

While her foe was reforming, Alice charged the Eye Staff, and trained its beam on her. In response, the fake Alice ran around the battlefield, staying just inches ahead of the deadly beam, until she put herself between Alice and the denizens of Wonderland.

Panicking, Alice pulled the beam upwards, away from her target, and turned it off as well; the fake Alice noticed this, and started throwing more cards at the real one. Alice was barely able to dodge in time.

"Alice, don't worry about us!" shouted the Hatter, as he opened his hat. Several MadCaps leaped out of the hat, and with their teapot-lid shields, separated the warring Alices from the rest of Wonderland's inhabitants.

Alice breathed a sigh of relief. It was a moment of hesitation, however, that her enemy used to dodge out of sight. Alice turned sharply around...

...just in time to use the Eye Staff's wooden body to block her twin's attack – an overhead strike with an electrified flamingo-shaped croquet mallet. Even after blocking it, she still felt the tingling course through her whole body, supplied by memories of electrical 'stimulation' from her days at Rutledge.

The sensation slowed her reaction time, and her copy gleefully took advantage of it to slam her mallet into Alice's midsection, sending her flying across the room. She landed several metres away, just barely holding on to the Jabberwock's Eye Staff.

More playing cards flew her way, and Alice was forced to shield herself with her left wing. The cards embedded themselves in between the metal feathers, restricting their movement. Experimentally, she butterfly-dodged away from her copy, but the cards remained stuck in her wing.

" _No escaping now!"_ taunted the fake Alice, who charged at her with what looked like the croquet mallet – the business end was hidden behind her.

At a mental command, clumps of Bandersnatch fur leapt off of Alice's dress and grabbed the fake by her ankles, tying her to the rope floor. As she struggled to move, the needle-like fur pierced through her stockings, making her cry out in pain and frustration.

Satisfied that her foe wasn't going anywhere, Alice charged up the Eye Staff and trained its beam on her...

...as she revealed that she wasn't wielding the croquet mallet at all, but the Ice Wand! She conjured a wall of ice from the ground in front of her, which absorbed all the impact from Alice's beam attack! Frustrated, Alice loosed a fireball that obliterated the wall, revealing that the fake Alice had disappeared again.

Alice dodged, and scanned for her opponent, but found nothing. Although that was due, in no small part, to the fact that she couldn't turn her head. Nor could she move any part of her body.

She had been frozen solid.

" _You fell right into my trap this time."_ said the fake Alice in a venomous whisper, as she brandished the Deadtime Watch once again. Alice was shocked that her copy was able to use the watch twice in a row, but was unable to express it.

The fake Alice walked around her frozen counterpart, taunting her all the while: _"You have to admit, it was quite clever of the Mara to wait until your confidence had fully returned, before revealing their trump card. You're not the only one who can turn the strengths of your opponents against them. Dress it up in desperation, in fear, in pain, and it can control things you'd think it can't. Things like hope, for example...or even love."_

She cupped Alice's frozen face, snickering as her foe struggled to change her expression. _"The Mara is not just a part of every living thing, it is life itself. It does not need evil to exist, only pain and suffering. Something the universe will never be without. It is the Mara that turns the wheel of time, the Mara that forces the hand of evolution, the Mara that determines who lives and who dies."_

She placed a Jackbomb at Alice's feet, and butterfly-dodged to a safer distance. The musical component tinkled along for the three second countdown before 'Jack' popped out of the box, laughed at her, and then the whole thing exploded.

Alice flew out of the frozen mold, minus her wings, claws, Eye Staff, and Bandersnatch fur; save for the bloodstains and torn clothes, she now looked just like her copy. Everything else lay broken and scattered, some even falling into the acid pit below the rope 'floor.'

She tried to stand up, but found herself tangled in the rope. She thought about trying to free herself, but in that very instant her copy was next to her, aiming a blunderbuss.

"Urgh...don't...you need me...to surrender?" Alice said with a weak voice.

" _This is you surrendering. One shot from this, and my words will be in your mouth."_

Alice struggled to free herself, but in vain. "You...will...never...be me!" she choked out.

" _But I am you. I am what you will be when the Mara's power is combined with yours. I am everything you are but so much more. You could never defeat me alone._ "

"Alice is not alone!"

Before Alice's evil copy could express any surprise, she was knocked off her feet by the White Knight's horse. The blunderbuss was knocked from her hands, and it went off as it hit the floor, wasting its shot.

The White Knight, knocked off the horse from the impact, got to work freeing Alice while the Pigeon distracted the fake.

" _Grah! Back off!"_ she shouted, swinging at the Pigeon with the croquet mallet.

"Never! I was born to kill serpents like you!"

"Watch out there! Don't let her touch that watch!" shouted the Duchess' son, rushing in with his porcine body dressed in a soldier's uniform and wielding a cavalier's sword, hoping to aid his friend.

As the two danced around the fake Alice, another group consisting of the White Rabbit, the Dodo, and assorted Torch Gnomes got to work thawing out the frozen implements Alice was so recently robbed of. Yet another group – the Hatter, the White Queen, the Butterfly, the Wasp-In-A-Wig, and even the Cheshire Cat joined the White Knight in protecting Alice while she recovered.

" _Get away from her!"_ shouted the fake Alice as she threw some bouncing jacks at her assailants. They focused on the Duchess' son, and he had to pause to bat them away, but the Pigeon kept up its assault, preventing her from approaching Alice.

Suddenly, the fake Alice pulled out a rather unexpected weapon, with which she slashed at the Pigeon. Blood spurted from the Pigeon's chest, and he fell to the ground clutching at his wound. The Duchess' son rushed him to safety, but not before shouting:

"The Vorpal Blade! Alice! Your copy has the Vorpal Blade!"

Alice gasped, and all of her strength returned to her at once. She gazed at her copy, and sure enough, the bloodstained metal of the Vorpal Blade glittered in her right hand.

"I should have expected that. The minute you said the Mara turned my power against me. Now I think I have an idea on how to defeat you."

The fake Alice, whose expressions had up til then alternated between calm and sadistic glee, now looked a little scared.

" _No! You won't defeat me! The Mara will triumph!"_

"We...will not succumb...to the serpent!" yelled the Pigeon in response, before coughing up blood. It then slumped, and the Duchess' son redoubled his efforts to drag it to safety.

Alice, meanwhile, stepped towards the frozen pile of discarded weapons, in brazen defiance. Already, the Torch Gnomes had defrosted the Jabberwock's Eye Staff, so that's what she picked up first. Much of the rest had fallen down below, but somehow the Elder Gnome knew how to fish them back up.

As she shook the last remnants of frost off of the staff, her double shouted in protest:

" _No! You don't understand! You don't want to win!"_

"Why not?"

" _Because if anything happens to me, your friends will pay the price!"_

Before Alice could ask what she meant, a low rumble echoed throughout the stomach chamber, and the snake head opened its mouth.

…...

…...

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Vastra, Jenny, and more than a dozen policemen cramped themselves inside the drawing room, pressed against every point of entry. Every few seconds, a new wave of force slammed against the doors, causing the wood to splinter ever so slightly.

On the other side, more of the Mara's slaves pressed themselves against the windows, pounding against the glass with whatever implements they could find. The glass was broken in some parts, but the bars before the windows kept them out.

That didn't stop them, however, from trying to throw things inside; both at the crowd blocking the door, and at the circle of mirrors encircling Alice's physical body. The only thing standing in between these projectiles and their master's victory was Richard Hargreaves, who was showing a few cuts and bruises from his efforts. As was the chair he was using as a shield and bludgeoning implement.

"Ugh! I can understand ignoring pain, but how can they ignore broken bones?" he groaned in frustration. "I swear I broke somebody's arm at one point!"

"They have no self-preservation instincts!" replied Vastra through the effort of holding the door. "The Mara doesn't care how many hundreds die – it'll get billions of victims if it wins!"

"We'll have to kill her then! It's the only way!" yelled one of the policemen, drawing his revolver...

...only for Jenny to break away from holding the door, in order to yank the revolver from his hands and throw it on the ground.

"What are you doing?" she asked indignantly.

"We're in danger as long as Alice lives!" said the frantic-eyed policemen. "What's one life compared to all of ours?"

"That's not how it works and you know it! The Mara won't ever give up! As long as humanity is capable of being tempted to take the easy way out, it will keep on trying!"

The policeman hesitated...and then said: "I'll take my chances."

He turned to face the circle of mirrors...but found Richard was right in front of him. He screamed before he was knocked out with the chair, which fell apart from the impact.

"The Mara's getting to us," Richard observed as he knelt down, using the policeman's own handcuffs to restrain him. "I do wish Alice would hurry up in there."

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

…...

…...

Unknown to Richard, Alice heard everything.

"Richard," she said with a worried voice.

" _You want to help him? Go to the real world, and break the circle of mirrors. They will live on as part of the Mara, or they will die."_

For the briefest of moments, Alice started to wonder: Even if she did triumph, would it be in time to save them? Would it be...

...but it was only for a brief moment. "How many times do I have to tell you, I am not, and will never be, a part of the Mara!"

" _Your loss."_

Her copy's face twisted into dimensions of anger Alice never before believed possible, before she sheathed the Vorpal Blade and raised her hands up above her. From them, innumerable black dots emerged from her fingernails and floated in a circle around her. Then, they began to grow...and grow...and grow...

...until they were all black cubes the size of a fist, with colored pits carved onto each side.

Alice recognized the floating cubes instantly: "Demon Dice!" she shouted.

The fake Alice smiled, and pointed her hands at Alice. The floating dice soared through the air, until they landed in a semi-circle in front of Alice. Nearly two score squares of burning _otherness_ opened before Alice.

She charged the Jabberwock's Eye Staff as hundreds of shapes emerged from the demon portals: winged, electricity-spitting lesser demons; slithering, fireball-throwing serpent demons; hulking frost-breathing demon lords; and so many others. They pulled themselves through the portals, readjusted themselves to their unfamiliar surroundings, and charged...

...right past Alice, into the gathering of Wonderland's denizens!

As Alice was briefly overcome by shock, her copy taunted her: _"I told you, your friends would pay the price for your defiance."_

"...no they won't. I have faith in them."

Replacing her fear with determination, Alice focused her energy on using the Jabberwock's Eye Staff beam attack on the demons coming through the portals. Heads, limbs, and blasphemous gizzards were separated from their hosts as the beam sliced the demons apart.

More and more rushed through the portals to join them, however, and Alice could not stop them all. They leapt on the creatures of Wonderland with a ferocious hunger...but deep down, Alice knew they would not find her friends easy meals.

And as she believed it, it became so.

The Cheshire Cat largely stayed away from the fighting...but appeared and disappeared rapidly all over the battle, confusing the fiends and leaving them easy targets for others...such as the White Rabbit, who busily scattered clockwork bombs all over the battlefield.

Demons on the outer edge of the battle found themselves trampled by hundreds of woodland critters, organized into an impromptu caucus-race by the Dodo.

The Lion and the Unicorn fought back to back, ripping and tearing through the monsters with ease, while simultaneously competing to see who could kill more than the other.

The White Queen directed her soldiers to protect those of Wonderland's residents who could not fight. When this left her without anyone protecting her, the demons thought she was vulnerable, only to be trapped and tangled in an explosion of wool.

The Butterfly soared overhead, generating gale-force winds that sent the flying demons every which-way, pausing now and again to sip from a container of nectar so he didn't lose any energy.

The Wasp-In-A-Wig wielded a Japanese-style sword, but seemed to never draw it from its sheath – he moved faster than the eye could follow, leaving a trail of bisected fiends in his wake.

The Mad Hatter pulled multiple Teapot-Cannons out of his hat, and bombarded the enemy hordes with boiling projectiles. The March Hare stood beside him, fending off attackers with his sword arm, while the Dormouse led a charge of Madcaps against the largest groups.

The Duchess stood next to her son, blasting away anyone who would approach him or the recovering Pigeon with her pepper grinder.

The Mock-Turtle blew his whistle, disorienting the fiends, and allowing the Younger and Elder Gryphons to tear them apart with ease.

The tide turned against the demons, and some even tried to go back through the portals, which started to shrink. All the while, Alice's twin gazed on in anger and disbelief, while the real Alice smiled in satisfaction.

Then the Jabberwock's Eye Staff started to feel heavier in her arms, and its beam began to sputter and fade. Alice looked at it in shock, then back up at the demon portals.

Before her eyes, the last of the portals shrank to nothingness. The last remaining demons, unable to flee the army of Wonderland's inhabitants, all turned their attentions to Alice.

With no time to think, she unleashed the very last reserves of the Eye Staff's power into a mighty fireball. The explosion reached every last demon, flaying the flesh from their bones...but it also caught Alice right in the epicenter.

Alice screamed as she was catapulted into the air, trails of fiery energy following as they seared her flesh. Her vision was distorted, and she lost all sense of place while she was flying. She crashed down onto the rope floor, with such force that it opened fresh wounds. She skidded as well, all the way to the edge of the cavern...where the gaps in the floor were big enough to fall through.

Alice just barely managed to grab hold of of a section of rope before she fell into the acid pool below, as the few remaining fragments of the Jabberwock's Eye Staff did just that. She watched them splash far below, and fade into nothingness, and then she turned up...

...to see her copy standing over her, having closed the distance with the Deadtime Watch. With a sadistic grin, she began winding up a Jackbomb. She let go...

...and at that very instant, the Jackbomb was pinned to the cavern wall by a thrown lance! It exploded harmlessly against the wall of snake flesh!

The White Knight tackled the fake Alice to the floor, using his heavy armor to weigh both of them down. It only lasted for a few seconds before she butterfly-dodged out of the way, but it was enough time for Alice to pull herself back onto the floor.

The fake Alice drew the Vorpal Blade, and the White Knight drew a short sword. They rushed at each other, yelling in defiance of the other's power.

The White Knight was much slower than his opponent, more often than not relying on his armor to block the Vorpal Blade's strikes. Soon the gleaming white metal began to bend and buckle under the unending assault, while the fake Alice effortlessly blocked or dodged strikes from the Knight's sword.

Alice looked around, but the other creatures of Wonderland were far away, and furthermore exhausted from the fight with the demons. They were unable to give Alice any weapons, and unable to lend any of their own assistance. Alice turned back to the fight in concern, her thoughts racing for a solution that would keep the White Knight alive.

Her copy then ducked low, and slashed at the Knight's leg. Blood spurted from the wound, and he cried out in pain as he collapsed.

Gritting his teeth, he made ready to slash with his sword, but his opponent pinned it to the ground with her foot. She cackled as she used the Ice Wand to restrain the Knight's other arm.

" _There's no inventing your way out of this predicament, you would-be bringer of hope!"_

She raised the Vorpal Blade, aiming for the Knight's exposed face...

...and brought it down into Alice's back.

The fake Alice could only stare in disbelief, as she realized Alice had jumped in to take the blow meant for the Knight. Her shock then apparently turned to satisfaction.

" _What is this? You sacrifice yourself for this figment of your imagination? Foolish, foolish girl! Now your life belongs to the Mara!"_

Alice barely heard her. She felt the life draining from her body, focusing into the spot where the Vorpal Blade was embedded in her body.

" _You have no hope, only pain! No love, only sorrow! No future, only fear! Wonderland, the Dark Places of the Inside, the so-called real world, all belong to the Mara!"_

Blood oozed out of her back and all over her dress. Her legs and arms wavered, as she leaned over the White Knight. As her vision began to blur, she saw him smile.

" _It is time. Give in."_

" _ **NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"**_

A wave of force exploded from Alice, pushing the fake away and wrenching the Vorpal Blade from her hand. Caught off guard, she fell over backwards and rolled away.

When she regained her balance, she beheld a changed world. All the color had washed away, save for some stark whites, grey outlines, and splotches of bloody red.

Alice stood tall over the injured White Knight. Her eyes were deep black pools, from which rained tears of blood. Her skin and clothes alike had turned an even brighter shade of white than their surroundings. The Vorpal Blade glittered in her hand, even on the spots still covered in her own blood.

On her last legs, she had called upon the power of Hysteria.

" _Urgh...what is this? Desperation? Power born of fear and rage! The Mara's power! It only makes me stronger! You'll never defeat me before that runs out!"_

Alice calmly walked towards her foe, completely undeterred.

" _ **You don't sound so convinced yourself.**_ " she noted.

Now visibly panicking, the fake Alice retrieved her blunderbuss and fired, but Alice simply sliced the incoming projectile in half with the Vorpal Blade. Every other weapon she tried was similarly ineffective: the playing cards, the croquet mallet, the jacks and jackbombs, even the Ice Wand.

She reached for the Deadtime Watch, but by then Alice had closed the distance, and was able to knock it out of her hand. She tried to butterfly-dodge, but Alice was too fast. She sliced at her copy multiple times before plunging the Vorpal Blade directly into her heart.

As blood began to flow from the copy's wounds, so did trails of red energy. She tried to pull away, but Alice kept a vice-like grip on her body. Even as the power of Hysteria faded, and color returned both to her and the world, her copy could not escape her grasp.

" _...But...but how? You used the power of despair...the power of the Mara...how could you use it against me?"_

"It was simple, actually. I refused to let it control me."

The copy struggled for a little while longer, but soon even those pitiful struggles ceased. Her clothing unraveled, he skin withered, her limbs wrinkled, and her bones melted. And all the while she cried out in pain.

" _No! Please no! I don't want to die! Not when I could have been youuuuu..."_

At last, all that remained was ashes and scattered energy. The energy coalesced into roses, filled with nectar made of raw meta-essence, which floated down onto the rope floor.

One by one, Alice drank the nectar from these scattered flowers, feeling her wounds close and her strength return with every drop. But even with all that she absorbed, she could not stop herself from collapsing in dizziness.

Her friends crawled over to her, in various states of injury and exhaustion, to join her in lying down on the rope floor to recover from what had been the hardest fight of their lives.

But Alice knew she could not allow herself to rest, no matter how much her body cried out for it.

"It's not over yet."

* * *

Happy Halloween, everybody!

Moving to a new town has a way of messing up your schedule, doesn't it?

But hopefully, someday soon, we'll discover what Alice needs to do next, and whether or not she can find the strength to do so!


	13. End of the Nightmare

Disclaimer: I do not own American McGee's Alice (EA) or Doctor Who (BBC)

* * *

Chapter 13: End of the Nightmare

* * *

"It's not over yet."

As Alice spoke those words, her friends reluctantly agreed.

"That was the Serpent's most desperate attempt thus far." groaned the Pigeon, fighting through the pain of its wounds. "Even though we thwarted it, it knows what worked and what didn't work. It's only a matter of time before it tries again."

"Unless we get to the Origin first." piped up the White Queen. "Everyone will be safe there!"

"But we don't know _how_ we're going to get there! And we need to know it fast!" said the White Rabbit with a shiver. "What are we going to do, Alice?"

The Meta-Essence from her defeated copy still flowed through Alice, as did her strength...but paradoxically, her body refused to obey her commands while it healed itself.

"Hate to say it," she groaned, "but I think I need more time to heal."

The Rabbit looked at his watch. Its hands were spinning like a top. "We don't _have_ more time!" it said frantically. "And if you don't have the strength to carry us, or the awareness to watch us..."

"Don't panic!" yelled the White Queen. "Butterfly will take care of that."

Everyone turned to the Butterfly, chugging from a large flagon of nectar. Before they could ask any question, the prescient insect spoke:

" _Ofcourse, 'sstolensofar,theingredientsforagetting-small-elixirwillsoonberevealedforustomakeuseofwithallhaste!_ "

The Butterfly began flapping its wings, stirring up the acid pool below the rope floor. By the time anyone could make any sense of what he said in his nectar-induced mania, the wind pulled four sparkling items from below:

"Mushrooms...poppies...sugared spice drops! He's going to shrink us all!"

" _Indeed, Turtle. What better way to lighten the burden on Alice?"_ purred the Cheshire Cat. " _She already has more than enough._ "

Using the Duchess' soup pot as a mixing container, the Butterfly concocted the shrinking mixture with considerable haste. Alice waited until it was done to try moving again, at which point she finally succeeded.

"Good. Butterfly, whenever you're ready, you may-"

"Wait, Alice!" exclaimed the White Knight. Alice turned to her wounded comrade-in-arms, and he continued: "I noticed that the Torch Gnomes couldn't salvage your wings."

"No. All the gifts left by the Jabberwock and its spawn are gone."

The White Knight winced in pain, but did so with a smile. "The Mara will surely attempt to bar your access to the Origin at every turn. The loss of those wings could complicate your ability to slip past its defenses...unless you were given an alternative."

"What would you suggest?" she asked, noting none of her characteristic sarcasm in the question – she honestly expected a useful answer.

And the Knight provided one. "Just remember to point the nozzle away from you," he said.

…...,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,...

The first thing that burst out of the giant snake's hide was the Vorpal Blade, followed by a shower of blood. The serpent twisted and writhed in pain as the blade sawed back and forth, widening the opening.

A new serpent materialized out of the air, and hissed at the opening in anger as a whole chunk of meat was carved out of its companion's side.

Out of that opening crawled a bloodstained Alice, carrying three things: the Vorpal Blade in her right hand, a large woolen bag looped around her shoulder, and a pair of oversize bellows (labeled _Squeeze Me)_ strapped to her back, with a string connected to it in her left hand.

 _Your resistance ends here, Alice!_

Alice did not respond. Instead, she pulled at the string in her left hand, and squeezed the bellows. She shot upwards like a rocket, out of the snake's reach.

She soared over the realm of Queensland, mysteriously decayed once more.

'Looks like the Red Queen isn't even pretending to be the Mara's friend anymore,' Alice thought as she looked over the grey landscape.

As the last ounces of air were expelled from the bellows, Alice reached the apex of her flight. She slowed down, and began to descend once more.

A snake waited to arrest her fall with open jaws, but that did not happen; Alice used her dress as a parachute instead. And while she floated down slowly, the bellows slowly reopened.

The instant they stopped expanding, Alice angled herself forward, and squeezed them again. Once again they propelled her through the sky, leaving angered snakes in her wake.

"Ok, now which way to the Origin?" she asked the woolen bag around her shoulder.

From within, the faint voice of the Cheshire Cat replied: " _Fly perpendicular to the orbit of Wonderland around it, towards where the Mara's power is strongest. That's where it will concentrate its power: barring your way to the one place it cannot control._ "

"Understood." said a stern-voiced Alice, as she angled herself even higher.

 _You will never reach it! I will blind your way to the path, and keep you trapped in the endless cycle of suffering!_

At the Mara's words, the clouds dispersed to reveal a seemingly infinite number of snakes slithering through the sky. The very next instant, they all turned towards Alice and lunged for her.

Alice wasn't scared in the slightest. "More snakes? That's your best move, Mara? I'm not impressed." She merely gripped the Vorpal Blade tighter, and counted the seconds until her enemies got close.

Microseconds before the snakes could bite her, she twirled around in midair. Slice after slice, the snakes were carved to bloody ribbons by the Vorpal Blade's glittering dance.

Instead of celebrating, however, Alice steeled herself for the Mara's next move. She scanned all around her, above as well as below.

It was below where the Mara struck from next. As she looked at the carved snakes behind her, she saw their blood turn into the black ooze known as Ruin! The toxic essence of non-existence shot up at her in scores of black tendrils, eager to snatch at her feet.

Her movement limited by the bellows, Alice released them so she could flip around and slash at the Ruin just before it could reach her. This cost her her forward momentum, however, and once again she floated on the parachute of her dress.

 _There is no escape!_

A violent storm whipped up all of a sudden, throwing Alice through the sky out of her control. She was able to quickly regain control...but no sooner did she, than she noticed something was missing.

"Oh no!" she shouted as she saw the woolen bag plummeting downwards, back into the disintegrating landscape of Queensland.

Alice angled herself downwards and squeezed the bellows, eager to save her friends.

 _Despair shall consume you!_

A snake formed below her, ready to swallow both Alice and the bag containing her friends.

"If you're going to do something, do it now!" Alice called out, apparently to no one in particular.

 _It's over, Ali-_

The Mara was interrupted as its snake exploded from within, torn apart by bright red tentacles.

 _No!_

The Red Queen floated upwards, looking like a young girl with an octopus for legs, buoyed by bulbous flotation sacs. She snatched both the bag and Alice from their free-fall.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Alice.

" _Don't thank me just yet!_ " snarled the Queen. " _The Mara will not relent until we are beyond its reach!_ "

Alice nodded, and squeezed the bellows again. The combined upward thrust of the bellows and the Queen's flotation sacs sent them farther up into the sky than Alice had ever gone before.

Soon, looking down allowed her to see the whole of Queensland. Sure enough, without its tentacled ruler it rapidly fell apart.

"A shame it had to come to this," said Alice.

" _You don't understand,"_ said the Queen, _"I don't grieve for my realm. I will rebuild when I can rule without being a simple puppet of the Mara."_

Alice nodded, but around halfway through she stopped listening. Instead, she focused intently on the remains of Queensland, as they transformed into formless floating shapes made out of rock, flesh, and formless negative thoughts. Shapes which then started moving in a strange direction.

"Are they..." she said under her breath, to which the Red Queen responded: " _Yes. They're in orbit around the Origin."_

"Then that means..."

Alice looked at the shapes, then all around her. All around them floated snakes of every size and shape, all serpentine projections of the Mara's negative influence. Alice had seen so many of them this day, but not like this: Now, she saw the flow of negative energy that fed into their perverse creation. And she saw where it was concentrated.

"There! That's where the Origin has to be!"

With renewed purpose, Alice and the Queen soared off towards the thickest cloud of snakes, Vorpal Blade and spine-covered tentacles at the ready.

As they pulled themselves closer to the snake cloud, the air became thicker and thicker. So thick that the clouds became solid enough to stand on, or block the path of the careening duo. They sliced their way through several clouds before the bellows ran out of energy, and they alighted on one in order to replenish it.

That's when the Mara Struck. More snakes than Alice had seen thus far surged towards them at once. The Red Queen restrained them with her tentacles while Alice sliced them apart. Thus, not even one snake got close enough to sink their fangs into any victims.

 _This will never end! You will tire, you will surrender, you will-_

" _Shut up!_ " barked the Queen as she forced one snake to bite down on another.

 _What a nuisance you've proven to be. Let your own aspects be your undoing!_

Three more snakes slithered through the air towards the battling pair...and on the way, they grew limbs, wings, fur, mechanical parts...they became the Jabberwock, JubJub Bird, and Bandersnatch!

" _You don't deserve to live!_ " snarled the fake Bandersnatch.

" **You bring nothing but misery to the world!** " bellowed the fake Jabberwock.

"No future! No hope!" screeched the fake JubJub Bird.

Alice gripped the Vorpal Blade tight, remembering her previous encounters with the Mara's copies of her darkest mental aspects, and determined to not have those experiences repeated.

" _NOW!_ " shouted the Red Queen...

...and at her command, the _real_ Jabberwock, JubJub Bird, and Bandersnatch appeared, leaping at their duplicates with great ferocity.

Alice chuckled, and made ready to assist her strange friends...when she saw more snakes pull from the great mass above her and lunge towards her, leaving a gap in the cloud of negativity.

Through that gap, she saw a small, wooden door. It was white, with floral-patterned glass sections, surrounded by a pink wooden frame. The word LIDDELL was written on the frame.

"The Origin." she whispered in understanding.

The snakes that formed the great mass charged at her, hissing and dripping venom, but quickly found themselves impaled by red tentacles.

" _Go!"_ snarled the Red Queen, as she threw the wool bag back to Alice. " _Clear the path!_ _We'll follow you when you get there!"_

With a smile, Alice looped the bag around her shoulder, aimed herself at the little door, and squeezed the bellows.

The door was a lot farther than it seemed, and the Mara's snakes made the journey seem longer – they shrank themselves as Alice approached, so it always seemed like they were right in front of her, ready to strike. And strike they did, but Alice always dodged just in time.

Nothing they did slowed her down. Even when the bellows ran out of propelling air, Alice used her enemies to keep her momentum: She ran along their serpentine bodies, dragging the Vorpal Blade along their scales as she did.

In no time at all, she found herself at a glittering barrier, beyond which lay not even a hint of scales, fangs, or eyes. There was only the door.

Alice stepped towards the barrier, Vorpal Blade in hand, knowing what she must do...and she hesitated, and turned around.

"Red Queen! Jabberwock! JubJub Bird! Bandersnatch! Where are you?"

" _Go on, Alice! You'll be safe in the Origin!_ " came a distant reply.

"But what about you?"

" _Don't dawdle, Alice! You don't need us! You hate us!_ "

"You're still a part of me! I won't leave you!"

The Mara's snakes sensed her hesitation and lunged for her. She dodged, and sliced, but she did not move any closer to the Origin.

At length, her monstrous former foes finally came into view. Alice held forth the woolen bag, and opened it slightly. A stream of purple mist escaped and wrapped itself around the Red Queen and her monsters. In an instant, they shrank down into specks, and the bag sucked them in.

 _You won't let them go. Even though they are my connection to you._

"You would never understand, Mara." said Alice, as she finally turned towards the barrier.

 _Oh, but I do. You want to accept every part of yourself, good and bad. Let me help._

Alice raised the Vorpal Blade, ready to pierce the barrier, when it suddenly moved further away! It disappeared into a dark void.

'No,' Alice quickly realized, 'I'm moving further away from it.' Undaunted, Alice ran towards her goal.

As she ran, the ground changed from air to wood. The surroundings changed from snakes to walls. A ceiling stretched overhead, illuminated by soft gas lamps.

Alice continued, focused on her goal...but slowed, as she noticed the changes. "What sort of last, desperate gamble is this, Mara?"

 _You want to go to the Origin. And so you are._

Alice thought about his words. And as a door appeared in front of her, she steeled herself for what might be on the other side.

She gingerly reached for the handle...

...and it opened on its own! Not even a second later, a tall, lanky man came through the doorway and shoved aside!

"Get out of my way!" he exclaimed in his slimy voice.

But it wasn't his attitude that surprised Alice, nor his sudden appearance. No, what really got Alice was the fact that she knew his name: Angus Bumby.

"No, no no no NO!" she exclaimed in a mixture of frustration and fear. She entered the doorway, knowing full well what she would find.

Beyond the doorway was the Liddell library. And already, a flickering light appeared in the corner.

 _The place where your life began. The place where you began to learn the truth of the world. Where you learned life is suffering, and no one can be trusted. The place that defined what it meant to be Alice Liddell._

The fire spread in an instant, surrounding Alice in scalding heat. She held the wool bag closer to her heart in an attempt to shield it from the flames.

Voices rose out of the inferno:

" _Fire, Alice, Fire!"_

" _Save yourself! Wake up, Lizzie! Lizzie, open the door!"_

" _The key, Lizzie! Unlock the door! You'll burn!"_

"Mama...Papa...Lizzie..." Alice said with a halting voice.

 _The ones you couldn't protect. The ones who first learned that Alice is not a hero. She's just a sad little girl lost in her fantasies, who can do nothing to ease the world's suffering, nor escape her own._

Timbers from the ceiling cracked and fell around her, creating a burning cage. Alice curled up to protect her friends, but all that did was show her the flames were getting even closer.

 _This is where you were born, Alice. In suffering._

Tears streamed down Alice's face. Her mind raced for an answer, any kind of response that would pull her out of her most irresistible memories of despair, and found none.

Her mother's distant voice rose again: " _Help us Alice! Save us, Alice! Don't leave us alone, Alice! Don't abandon us, Alice! Stay with us!_ "

"I'm sorry..."

…...

…...

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Against all odds, the Mara's horde had failed to break in to the drawing room where Alice rested in meditation. Richard, Vastra, Jenny, and so many policemen were exhausted, battered, and scarred, but their efforts showed in the slowing attacks of their enemies.

Richard was the first to notice, as less of the horde crawled up to the window he was guarding. "We're doing it!" he exclaimed. "It's working!"

"What's working?" asked a policeman through clenched teeth.

"Even the Mara's seemingly limitless energy cannot propel the human body past its limits," replied Vastra, forcing a smile. "And it seems that energy is far from limitless, since it's cut off from its primary host-"

"AAIIEAGH!"

The scream was quickly followed by the crash of breaking glass, and the thump of a toppling chair. Everyone instantly realized the source.

"Alice!" exclaimed Richard, as he rushed over to her prone form.

"Fire, Fire!" she shouted as she rolled back and forth, in a seeming attempt to smother flames that weren't even there. All it accomplished was embedding tiny shards of broken glass into her clothes and skin.

Richard grasped her, in an attempt to stop her from hurting herself. It took all his effort to stop her from creating even more gashes and bloodstains. She couldn't recognize it as an attempt to help, and she batted her arms at her would-be savior.

Richard grasped her right arm to hold her still, and struggled for a minute until she went limp. Only then did he grasp the true gravity of the situation.

Alice had thrown herself out of the circle of mirrors.

The snake tattoo on her right arm burst from her skin in a shower of blood, and lunged for Richard. As he struggled to keep it from biting him, it grew perceptibly bigger...and bigger!

"Help! Vastra! The Mara!" shouted Richard as the green-and-yellow snake became too big and strong for him to keep holding on.

The Mara's new physical form slithered into the center of the room, and raised itself to look at Vastra, Jenny and the policemen who barred the door. Once it grew tall enough to rear up to human height, it opened its mouth and hissed.

The policemen were the first to quiver and kneel.

"Don't fear it!" yelled Vastra. "That's what it wants! Clear your minds and-"

Vastra's words were interrupted as a patch on the snake's underbelly imperceptibly changed shape. It looked like a simple patch of white scales...

...but to Vastra, it looked like the moon. The moon which, millions of years ago, her Silurian bretheren mistook for a runaway planetoid that would collide with the earth and destroy it. The reason her people hid themselves away beneath the earth. The reason everyone she knew from her previous life no longer existed.

That patch of scales carried with it memories of fear, of loss, of anger...Vastra succumbed to the Mara in an instant.

"Madame-" Jenny cried out in fear, before the Mara got her as well.

Trails of red energy flowed from everyone in the room, feeding the Mara with negativity. Making it grow once again. Its voice echoed around everyone's mind as it cackled its triumph

 _At last! I take root, and I shall grow! I shall spread! I shall consume all that is! The SuMaran Empire will be reborn on Earth!_

Though only three of those present knew what that term was, everyone knew what it meant. Madness, chaos, depravity and despair would reign over their lives henceforth; and there was nothing they could do to prevent it, nor to bring the slightest amount of hope into their future. They were so paralyzed with fear, they could not even speak a word of protest.

The Mara's snake form grew as big the room around it, and still it kept growing.

 _Rejoice, humanity! Your destiny has arrived! Henceforth your lives exist to contribute to my greatness!_

"I beg to differ, Serpent!"

 _What?_

The Mara turned towards the source of the voice. Its unwilling supplicants turned as well.

And they saw Alice, standing in defiance.

 _You? How? How do you resist my power?_

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"I'm sorry..."

Alice curled up even tighter. The fire closed in around her. Her parents' death screams and pleas for mercy echoed through the inferno, almost drowning out the sounds of destruction.

"I couldn't save you..."

Loosened by the fire, a beam fell down from the ceiling, towards Alice...

….and the instant before it reached her, she slashed it with the Vorpal Blade. Cleft in two, it fell to both sides of her as she stood back up.

"...But I can save your memory."

Alice held the Vorpal Blade high above her. The light from the fire glittered off the polished metal, reflecting a rainbow onto the carnage of the past.

The fire, the room, and everything else started glittering in turn.

"I will never forget you. I will never forget the pain of losing you. I will never forget the emptiness I had known without you. But most importantly, I will never forget the happy times we shared while I still knew you. Everything about you shall be a part of me forever. This I swear."

As she spoke, shafts of rainbow light connected the fire around her to the Vorpal Blade. The fire leapt towards the shafts, and disappeared into them. As did the burning wreckage around her.

" _Thank you, Alice..._ " came a soft voice in reply, as the fire around her coalesced...

...into a single, house-shaped glass memory that hovered above her.

Alice grasped the memory with her free hand, and pulled it close to her breast. The last of her tears fell onto it, and the memory shone brilliantly in response.

She smiled, and then looked around her. With the disappearance of the fire, once again she was surrounded by a featureless void...

...save for the door to the Origin, sitting there in an inviting way.

Alice approached it, and this time it did not shrink away. She touched the Vorpal Blade to the barrier in front of it, and it fell away into mist.

"Come with me, friends. Family. Everyone. We'll be safe here."

She sheathed the Vorpal Blade, reached out for the handle, and turned it.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"It's easy. I reached my center. I put myself far beyond your reach. "

 _But I trapped you in your most painful memories! You could never escape them alone!_

"Funny thing about my mind, Mara. As long as I have Wonderland, I am never alone."

The Mara hissed in frustration.

 _Oh well. It doesn't matter now. You may have awakened from my nightmare, but you can do nothing to prevent my ascension! I've won! I manifest in the physical world, and the sight of my image alone shall bring me enough power that no one shall resist me! Not even you!_

Alice smirked. "Once again, you understand so little about what you can't control."

 _Like what?_

The Mara's question was posed in a daring manner, attempting to call out Alice's bluff...but she answered.

"For instance, who says I'm awake?"

Confused at Alice's statement, the Mara looked at her again, and so did its supplicants.

And as they looked, Alice's appearance spontaneously changed from her waking clothes to her Wonderland outfit.

A chorus of confused voices arose from the Mara's supplicants. "...What?" "...How did she...?" "No way!"

Richard, caught even more off-guard by Alice's unearthly beauty, added to the chorus by saying: "I must be dreaming!"

Alice responded: "That's because you are. You all are!"

 _What? Impossible!_

The Mara looked around, as did everyone else. To their surprise, their surroundings had changed as well.

Gone was the ruined Hargreaves drawing room, and its limited space. Gone were the shattered furniture and mirrors. In their place was a vast stone amphitheatre, illuminated by grand windows but otherwise cut off from the rest of the world.

On the floor of this great coliseum were Alice, the Mara's serpentine apparition, and everyone currently touched by the influence of the Mara, regardless of whether they were inside the house or not.

Weakly, Madame Vastra stated: "You...you pulled everyone...into a shared dream! While we were still awake!"

Alice nodded. "Everyone I infected with the Mara by touch, creating a connection to the Dark Places of the Inside. This very power was the reason the Mara targeted me in the first place, and now I'm using it against it."

"But how?" said a voice from the assembled crowd. "How will it help against _that_?"

"How? By doing this, I'm focusing the Mara's energy away from the physical world. Preventing it from gaining any more sources of negative energy. And gathering all its victims together, so we can all resist it together."

 _Resist me? Me! Impossible! My power lies in nightmares, in the nameless fears which plague the subconscious mind! I am the fears men dare not acknowledge, and thus cannot resist!_

At that exclamation, the Mara intensified its vampiric draining of its victims' psyches. The trails of negative energy thickened into solid red bands, wrapping themselves around the Mara and making it grow even larger and scarier.

While everyone else cowered, Alice scoffed. "A bigger snake? That's it? After spending the better part of a day doing nothing but fight snakes, they no longer frighten me!"

 _But they are a different story, are they not?_

"Not really." said Alice as she defiantly marched towards the Mara. "Each of them has the power to resist you deep within them. To separate themselves from their fears and regrets, and approach their troubles with a calm and clear mind."

 _You're wrong, Alice! If they could, I wouldn't have gotten to them in the first place! They didn't resist me, they called to me for help! The pressures of simply living in this world drained their strength, and they needed me! I am a part of them, and they are a part of me!_

"That's another advantage of fighting in the dream world. Here, where wishes are true, they can find the strength that life denied them. They won't need you anymore then."

Around the two, the Mara's victims heard her words. They sensed the hope within her words, but filtered through a layer of skepticism. With a burst of flame from its fangs, the Mara gave voice to that doubt:

 _It will only be a false strength, fading as soon as they wake up! And they will wake up, to find even more unconquerable hardship, more fuel for their despair!_

"If that is the truth, then prove it, Mara!" shouted Alice, as she stood directly in front of the fanged visage of her enemy. "Show me why they have no hope, why they can only look forward to despair!"

Then, she turned around to the prone, trembling form of Richard Hargreaves. "Show me how you convinced Richard of this so-called 'truth' of life."

 _Gladly_.

Richard's body was picked up by an invisible force, wrapped in bands of negative energy, and brought before Alice. Instantly she noticed the patches of snake skin on his own, the blood dripping from his mouth, and the faint serpentine eyes.

"...Alice..." he groaned.

"You were able to resist this monster up until now. There's nothing to say you can't shake him off just as easily."

 _Oh yes there is! Because even if you win, even if he does shrug me off, he has nothing to look forward to! His life is practically over!_

"You're wrong!" exclaimed Alice.

 _His parents hate him with all their hearts, and will disinherit him at the earliest opportunity. His chosen path as an inventor has brought him nothing but failure after failure, and soon he will be out on the street without a penny to his name. You dragged him into this horrifying venture, where the fate of the world is at stake, and he could do nothing to contribute in any meaningful way. Still he tried, and failed once again, and all to win your love. Love, which he knows you may never give, knowing so much hurt as you do. And even if you do, he knows he doesn't deserve it!_

The Mara pulled Richard closer to its serpentine body.

 _He has nothing to look forward to except a life spent cold and alone, with no one but himself to blame for his troubles. There is no escape from his pit of despair._

"...save yourself, Alice..." whispered Richard.

For a brief moment, Alice was overwhelmed at the scale of Richard's troubles. She even briefly wondered if helping him was even possible.

But only for a brief moment.

"There is an escape from your despair, Richard." she said as she walked towards him. "There is a life waiting for you outside, and it's worth living. Don't listen to the Mara's lies."

She grabbed his hand, and pulled with all her might, preventing the Mara from pulling him any closer.

"...But...it's the truth...my parents do hate me..."

"No they don't! They love you. They want what's best for you. They honestly believe that your passion for invention, and your friendship with commoners, are bad for you. If you...if we proved them wrong, the conflict would go away in a snap!"

"...my inventions...none of them brought me success..."

"Have you forgotten that one-man-band machine? It did exactly what you said it would do, and more! The potential is there, the problem is that you haven't found something the world wants yet. Thousands of inventors the world over created hundreds of things that never sold, until they found the one thing that made them famous! You just have to keep trying!"

"I could do nothing...when the world was in danger..."

"Without you, I would have given up long ago! You let me know that people were still willing to view me as a friend, rather than an enemy. You helped pull me out of my pit of despair, now I'm returning the favor!"

"...I did it for your love...but you don't want love...and I don't deserve it..."

"Why would you ever think you don't deserve love? You're handsome, you're kind, you're intelligent, you're honest, you're courageous, you've a drive to right the wrongs of the world; any woman would be lucky to have you!"

Alice paused to catch her breath. She had to be absolutely sure. If she told a lie, then everything she said, all her help would have been for naught...

Then she remembered the remainder of Dr. Wilson's letter:

 _In addition, I highly encourage you to continue seeking out confidantes you can call upon for aid, as you have done with me. Dodgson alone may not be enough – Heaven knows I would never have gotten where I am without the assistance of my teachers, my colleagues, and even my patients. While the vast majority of your history has been abuse from others, remember that dark impulses do not control the human spirit. If you can turn your pain into a desire to help others suffering similar misfortune, then so can other people. I'd start by looking in the ranks of those people for friends, who can be united in common purpose._

 _This Richard fellow you described in your postscript sounds like such a person. In fact, with the glowing terms you used to describe a complete stranger, I would say he made quite an impression upon you. And I have no doubt you have made a similar impression upon him. Though you have expressed disinterest in romantic pursuits, I implore you to not give up on love entirely. There is more than one kind of love, after all, and love of all kinds holds our society together._

 _Love others, so that you may receive love. Love yourself, so you may draw strength from all of your wonderful aspects. But above all, Alice, I implore you to never lose faith. Your goal is attainable, one way or another, with or without help._

 _Yours in confidence,_

 _Dr. Hieronymous Q. Wilson._

She grasped Richard's hand even tighter.

"Yes, I have been hurt in the past. Yes, it's made me scared of getting too close to people. My old self would have judged you too good to be true. My old self was alone; alone with no one but my thoughts, and my worries. The more I assumed the worst of others, the more I assumed the worst of myself. And the more I thought myself a danger to myself and those around me, the truer it became. That's likely what drew the Mara to me in the first place."

"I don't want that to happen again. The risk is great, but if it means I can know happiness and family once again, it's a risk I'm willing to take. I'm willing to see if you're as good as you seem. I'm willing to admit...that I might love you too."

As she spoke those words, the bands of negative energy that coiled around Richard loosened ever so slightly. Richard started to smile...but it only lasted a few seconds. The Mara hissed, and the negativity tightened its grip again.

"...there's still...too much risk..." he moaned. "...one mistake...and it will all come crashing down...I'm still afraid..."

"I know, Richard," said Alice, "Relationships, and inventions, aren't built overnight. There are pitfalls, there are obstacles, and they are scary. But you have to ask yourself: what would hurt more, failing after giving it everything you have and more, or giving up having never even tried?"

Time seemed to stand still, as Alice pulled against the Mara's grasp with all her strength, though she knew only Richard could set himself free. Richard's eyes closed, and she couldn't tell what he was thinking.

Then, finally, he said: "You're right. After all, trial and error is what invention is all about!"

No sooner did he say those words than cracks appeared in his skin, as well as the bands of negative energy binding him to the Mara. He grasped Alice's hand, and together, they pulled him free, leaving nothing in the Mara's grasp but a Richard-shaped husk of snakeskin. The real Richard fell on top of Alice with a thump.

 _No! Impossible!_

Neither Alice nor Richard responded to the Mara's exclamation. Instead, the first thing they noticed was the awkwardness of their position. They pulled themselves up onto their feet, blushing all the while.

Once they were upright again, Richard was the first to speak: "Thank you, Alice."

Alice smiled in response. "Simply returning the favor."

Then, the two finally turned to look at the angered Mara.

"So, what's the next step in dealing with this problem?" asked Richard, with a surprisingly confident tone in his voice.

"I was actually thinking I'd leave this one to you for a change." said Alice, to Richard's surprise. She continued: "After all, you are an inventor."

At that word, the wheels in his brain started turning. And, at the speed of thought, something clicked. "I see. Well, since we're in a dream-world, how about I dream up something...like this!"

Richard leaned down and brushed at the floor, pulling a panel of wood aside. He reached into a recess, grasped a long wooden pole, and pulled it like a lever.

A larger section of the floor burst open, and out popped a large vanity set, complete with a multi-faceted mirror that folded out like a set of cabinet doors. The Mara recoiled at the sight of the mirrors, much to the satisfaction of Alice and Richard.

"What do you think?" said Richard with a manic grin, as he began describing his invention: "It folds into the floor when not in use, leaving space for so many other things! Plus, it can hold a much larger mirror than a typical set of vanity furniture!"

"I think it's lovely, Richard." said Alice, "and it's just what we need! Mirrors will force the Mara to feed on itself, and banish it to the Dark Places of the Inside once again!"

 _You fools! It has to be a circle of mirrors to work against me! Besides, that so-called 'invention' is barely practical! You're deluding yourself if you believe anyone will want something so superfluous!_

"Oh, but I know at least a hundred people will want at least one of these right now. In fact, you're looking at them!" laughed Richard.

As Richard spoke, a series of similar-looking levers suddenly appeared next to each and every one of the Mara's victims, scattered throughout the coliseum of Alice's shared dream. Many of them regarded them with cautious curiosity, noting Alice's words about mirrors being the scary monster's weakness. A few even began to reach for the levers.

 _No! Stop! Do not touch those levers! You are my servants, bound to me by the weakness in your hearts! I am your strength!_

"No, it's not!" exclaimed Alice. "Whatever struggles life brought you, that drew you into the Mara's clutches, you can find the strength within you to carry on! You got along just fine without the Mara before, you can do so again! Just do what Richard and I did: ask yourselves what fear, doubt, and pain binds you to the Mara! Confront that dark side of yourself, and embrace it or move past it, whatever it takes to find peace within yourselves!"

"If you need help, call out!" added Richard. "You don't need to suffer in silence! I know you may prefer to pretend that nothing is wrong for respectability's sake, that looking good might be more important than actually being good, but that's not how it works! A problem ignored is a problem magnified! Examine the problem, and find a solution!"

"We won't think any less of you for what you reveal, just as long as you don't think any less of yourselves! If we can admit our faults, and move past them, then so can you!"

 _Ignore them! Your pain is inescapable! Pain and fear define your world! I define your existence! I am the Mara, I am your absolute ruler! Obey!_

…...

…...

"...There's no sense crying over mistakes I made. The people still love the opera, and I can make it worth loving again. I can try again. Giving up will only hurt the people I love." Trenton Haymitch mumbled to himself.

…...

"Envying those richer than me, and looking down on those less fortunate than me, only hurt myself and everyone around me. Can I be satisfied with what I have..?" Toby Russell asked himself.

…...

"I caused so much suffering because I felt inadequate." sobbed Cardin Varnham. "But if I loved myself as I am, and treated others with that same love...wouldn't that be better?"

…...

"I can't change the past. But I can learn from it. I can certainly learn better ways to raise my children than acting as if danger was around every corner." moaned George Renfrew.

…...

"There are better ways to honor my husband's memory than forcing my romantic notions on my son. He has his own life ahead of him." mumbled Winifred Hargreaves with a smile.

…...

"There are better ways to show my love for my son than by controlling his life, and making him think of me as oppressive." Thomas Hargreaves told himself.

…...

"He's his own man now, and as long as we love each other, things will find a way to work out." said Meredith Hargreaves.

…...

"Alice...come what may, I have done my part to make up for my mistakes. I should forgive myself and move on." whispered Charles Dodgson.

…...

"My old life is gone, but my new one is just beginning. And I have Jenny to guide me through the hardest of times." said Vastra.

…...

"I keep telling myself I am nothing without Madame Vastra, but that's wrong. Her love for me is proof enough." said Jenny.

…...

…...

One by one, those afflicted by the Mara's corruption stood up, seeing their inner demons for what they are.

 _No! Stop! You cannot resist me! You will not!_

The Mara's words, echoing through the minds of everyone who saw it, were all but ignored. In desperation, the giant snake changed the color of its scales to form a variety of images. Images that suggested money, love, respect, power, loss, fear, despair...but none of them produced any reaction.

 _This cannot be! I am the Mara! I turn the wheels of time! I am strife! I am misery! I am temptation incarnate!_

"And we are not tempted anymore." declared Alice.

At that word, everyone reached down to the floor, and found the lever closest to them. They pulled, and a hundred more vanity sets appeared out of the ground. Their mirrors unfolded, right in the face of the Mara. Its negative energy was reflected back on itself, rooting it in place.

"Yes! Now push! Form a circle!" yelled Alice as she produced her own set.

Everyone pushed their vanity sets towards the Mara. The giant snake writhed, and hissed in a manner resembling screaming.

Smaller negative-energy-tendrils reached out, desperately trying to slow the advancing crowd. They dragged at their feet, pulled at their backs, tugged at their clothes; all to no avail.

One by one, the vanity sets slotted themselves into a massive circle around the Mara. The mirrors visibly enlarged as they stopped, cutting off any possible route of escape for their prisoner.

Those who knew the Mara for what it truly was got to the center first, and slotted in their mirrors. Those who merely saw it as their dark side followed shortly. Last to go were the ones who missed the Mara guiding their actions, although they knew it was wrong.

Finally, once she was sure everyone was free, Alice sealed the last gap.

 _RREEEEAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHRRRRRRAAAAAIIIIIGGGGGHHH..._

Pulled apart and pulled inwards at the same time, the Mara distorted itself into horrible and painful directions...

…...before it finally disintegrated in a burst of light.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

At that instant, Alice woke up.

Groaning, she pulled herself off the floor, pausing to pull out a few glass shards embedded in her waking clothes. She surveyed the scene in awe at the chaos...

...adding a smirk of triumph when she saw a scorch mark in the middle of the floor. All that was left of the Mara that had caused her so much grief these past months.

All around her were stunned, dazed, sleeping and entranced figures that quickly began to stir. Seeing them brought her a sense of satisfaction she hadn't known in a long time.

One in particular, however, was of keen interest.

"Alice!" moaned Richard as he stumbled towards her. "Alice, you did it!"

"No...we did it. All of us, together..." said Alice...

...as her legs failed her, and she fell right into Richard's arms.

"Alice, are you OK?" he asked, to which she responded:

"Yes...just exhausted. Must have projected myself into too many minds at once. Clearly, it was worth it."

"Don't rest on your laurels just yet," spoke an authoritative Madame Vastra. "The Mara may be banished once again, but the damage it dealt still remains. We have some cleanup to attend to, as well as futures to plan for."

Alice and Richard nodded in agreement, as they tried (and failed) to pull each other off the ground.

"Oof, you really are exhausted...but aside from that, how are you feeling?"

"...More...together...than I've felt in the last twenty years. For once in my life, all of my thoughts and feelings are in harmony...and I plan to enjoy it for as long as I can."

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Deep within the recesses of Alice's mind, Wonderland was rebuilding itself. Energy and life returned to the scattered realms, but the process was far from complete.

Alice waited within the Origin, safe along with her friends. They rested within the safest place imaginable: within the book that was written by Alice's dreams.

The book was secure within the shelves of small books and toys Alice held most dear, tucked away in the corner of her bedroom.:

The Liddell family nursery from so many years ago.

Her seven-year-old self danced and frolicked through fields of imaginary flowers, and her smile made the room a thousand times brighter.

"Alice? Is everything alright in there?" called a familiar voice.

"Yes, Mama! Come and play!"

The door opened, and in stepped Arthur, Lydia, and Elizabeth Liddell. All happy, and ready to dance with her.

She knew this wouldn't last. She knew that soon she would have to leave her refuge and return to the world where pain was possible, and not all stories had a happy ending.

But moments, and memories, like these would make that world so much more livable.

* * *

And everyone lived happily ever after.

THE END!

….yeah, I know that's not enough of an ending. So stay tuned later this week for the epilogue!


	14. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own American McGee's Alice (EA) or Doctor Who (BBC).

A/N: When writing this story, I considered Evanescence's _Good Enough_ to be the romance theme for Alice and Richard, for those who want soundtrack suggestions.

* * *

EPILOGUE: Happy Summer Days

* * *

…...

Thomas Hargreaves voiced his displeasure immediately: "Just look at this mess! It may take days before the house looks presentable again!"

"At least we have no shortage of volunteers on that front." said Meredith in a reassuring tone, directed as much to herself as to her husband.

"No shortage indeed...of self-admitted criminals!" replied Thomas, showing that he was far from reassured. "What would our friends say if they saw this? The sooner everything's back to normal, the better."

"...But will things ever really be back to normal? After all, there's still Richard to..."

"You're right, my dear. Let's get that out of the way."

They walked through the halls, past several of the Mara's former victims. While they busied themselves with carting away broken glass, bloodstained carpet, and splintered wood, the owners of the house tried their best not to look at the carnage.

Instead they approached their son, still tending to the exhausted Alice, who quickly noticed their approach.

"Just so you know, it wasn't my idea to turn our home into-"

Thomas raised both his hands to silence Richard. "It's alright, Richard. We know. Vastra explained everything."

"...You're not...cross, or anything?"

"Not at all. Just worried. You're becoming your own man, after all. It is, admittedly, hard to be supportive when your definition of success is so different from ours...but after all this, it would be a grave offense if we didn't at least try."

Cautiously, Richard offered a smile, and thanks.

Thomas nodded, and then he turned to the other occupant of the room. "And we'll start with your...unconventional preference in companions. Miss Liddell?"

"Yes, Mr. Hargreaves?" said Alice in a sleepy voice.

"By all rights, I should loath to have you anywhere near my son. Your status, your condition...your history...There's no way you should be respectable by any definition. But today, I saw you as you truly are. A greatness that transcends all of your shortcomings."

With great hesitation, Thomas reached for Alice's hand...and placed it in Richard's own.

Both smiled from ear to ear, and Richard once again thanked his father.

"Please do not make me regret this."

"You won't."

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Trenton Haymitch and Toby Russell shared a wagon as they were carted off to prison once again.

"If I may ask a question, officer?" asked Trenton, a pleading look on his face. "Is the Royal Opera House...still in business?"

The policeman nodded, and Trenton breathed a happy sigh of relief.

Toby wasn't so happy. "How fortunate for you. I know I burned down my bookstore, and assaulted my wife. I'll have to rebuild my life from the ground up once my sentence is up."

"Don't be so sure."

Surprised, Toby turned around to see Madame Vastra's carriage riding right alongside them.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"I spoke to your wife whilst I was hunting you. She still loves you. Provided you come to your senses, of course."

Overwhelmed with shock and happiness, Toby fainted with a smile on his face.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"You're ab-abs-solutely sure you d...don't want to meet Mis..Mister Sedgwick?"

"Yes indeed, Dodgson."

"B-b-but Alice! Im..magine the advances in s...science! Shared d-dreaming, D-d-Dark Places of the Inside...You're living poof—proof that that the...Society for Psychical Research st-st-studies real things! W...we wouldn't be a...a laughing stock...anymore!"

"That may be, but if we go public, then suddenly thousands of people know about the Mara. Thousands who have no idea how to resist its temptations. It's pain over being defeated won't keep it at bay for very long. I'm sorry."

Disappointment washed over Dodgson's face. "...I understand, Alice. It's just...I just...Ugh, I c-c-can't say it!"

"It's OK, Dodgson. Take your time. I've learned to be patient with you."

Strangely, these words didn't give Dodgson a comforted smile. Alice waited while he took some deep breaths and said:

"I...have to ret..turn to Oxford soon. But...but first...I have to c..confess something..."

"It wouldn't happen to involve Dr. Bumby, would it?"

Every muscle of Dodgson's body tensed up, as if he was ready to run...but Alice reached across the table and grabbed his hand reassuringly.

"I only saw glimpses, during the massive shared dream. I saw you confront something dark within yourself while you resisted the Mara. Just let me say that, if you can forgive yourself, then I'll probably be able to forgive you."

"...Thank you, Alice. Well...it all st-st-started when...when you were a ch..child...I thought...you were pretty..."

"Well. That, I can definitely forgive...as long as you understand my heart belongs to Richard now." said Alice, with a slight laugh. One which Dodgson hesitantly mirrored.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

George Renfrew sat opposite the Hargreaves family in their newly-refurbished drawing room.

"Well, I personally am shocked by how quick my children and servants were to forgive me. After I treated them so shamefully..."

"I think, on some level, they understand what you were going through." said Winifred. "Loss is a hard thing to deal with. I personally was surprised to learn how much of my life and personality was shaped by my husband's death!"

Meredith put down her tea so she could contribute. "But the important thing is that they forgive you. Now you can move on. Look forward to happier times."

"Yes...speaking of which, have the happy couple set a date yet?"

"They're taking their time." said Winifred with a giggle. "But I daresay it won't be much longer."

With that, she went to the window, in order to watch them playing 'Ring-around-the-rosie' with Peter, Pauline, and Pearl Renfrew.

"At times I want to feel guilty for trying to force them together the way I did," she said to no-one in particular, "but at the same time, it's clear those two were made for each other."

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"You mean it, Nan?"

"Indeed, Alice!" said Madam Sharpe, as she pulled the new, official-looking uniform off the carriage roof. "It's for Kathryn. She's hired!"

Alice was elated. "We kept our promise. She won't be forced to sell her body anymore."

Just before Madame Sharpe could enter the _Pawned Queen_ , she turned back to Alice. "Just a quick question, though...how did you make that connection happen? Mr. Seneca never enters our part of town!"

Alice's smile faded...but only briefly. "A very apologetic Mr. Cardin Varnham."

"What?"

"I was just as surprised as you were. Seems he wanted to distance himself from his history of violence...And it turns out he knew a bloke who knew a bloke who knew a bloke who was willing to hire women."

"...you know, I might just be willing to accept his apology." said Madam Sharpe with a stern face. "Emphasis on 'might', however."

Alice merely smiled in retort, and Madam Sharpe took the new uniform to its new owner, past the recently-repaired doors of her brothel.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"Alice, I did it!" shouted Richard from the street. He could barely keep still, he was so excited, and neither did he care about anyone who was watching...except for one small detail he wanted private.

Alice leaned out of her flat window to answer: "Did what?"

"I sold an invention! Let me inside and I'll tell you all about it!"

Alice shared his excitement at once, and hurried downstairs to let him into her flat.

Richard leapt into the hall the minute the door was open. "The railroad liked my new engine design! They paid a small fortune up front, and offered me a position as an assistant to the chief engineer! And I get to keep my name on the patent! I'd put money on production starting before the year's out!"

"This is wonderful, Richard!" beamed Alice with pride, as she grabbed his shoulders. "Your career's actually starting! I knew you could do it!"

Richard's excited shaking finally stopped, but his smile didn't fade a bit. "I know I wouldn't have made it this far if you didn't believe in me."

"Likewise, as I remember."

Richard paused, looking away from Alice as he tried to find the right words. Soon he settled on:

"Now I know you know your thoughts better than anyone else knows...but can I have a guess at what's going on in your head?"

"You may guess." said Alice with a wry smile.

In an instant, Richard pulled a ring out of his coat pocket, and presented it to Alice.

"My guess is...we've both put this off long enough. And we're sure we both want it. Alice, will you marry me?"

"Of course!" said Alice as they embraced... "but technically, I was thinking of how you would go about improving the Looking-Glass train."

They sat there for several minutes, laughing in each other's arms.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Alice and Richard knocked on the doors of 13 Paternoster Row. Mentally, they steeled themselves for any number of strange occurrences. After all, Madame Vastra was a very strange woman, with strange preferences as well as stranger knowledge. It had saved their lives in the past, but still, they knew to be ready for anything.

They were not, however, prepared to have someone other than Jenny answer the door.

"Halt! This facility is under guard. State your names and intentions at once, or your atoms will be dispersed for the glory of the Sontaran Empire!" announced a squat, brown, circular-headed humanoid creature in a black suit.

Alice could tell right away that Richard was scared speechless, so she responded: "Um, I'm Alice, and this is Richard. Is this Madame Vastra's residence?"

"It certainly is. If you intend any harm to my employer, you will face the full wrath of the Sontarans!" stated the figure.

Alice pulled their visiting-cards out of Richard's trembling hand, and extended them outwards. "I believe she's expecting us. Would you be so kind as to announce us?"

"Certainly, my good man." stated the figure. It then turned around, and shouted: "Announcing a mister Alice Liddell, and a mister Richard Hargreaves!"

"Perfect! Send them in, Strax!" came Vastra's familiar voice from a distant corridor.

"Follow me!" ordered the figure Alice guessed was named 'Strax.' "And don't try anything funny!"

Strax led the two into Vastra's greenhouse, where Vastra and Jenny were already seated. Immediately after Alice and Richard seated themselves, Strax returned to 'guarding' the door.

At last, Richard found his voice: "That's...quite the welcoming committee."

"You'll have to forgive Strax. Sontarans are bred to be soldiers from birth, and are devoted to perpetual warfare and intergalactic conquest. He's bound to have some trouble adjusting to civilian life."

"...I see..." gulped Richard.

"Anyway, to what do we owe this invitation?" asked Alice.

"In response to your own. We would be honored to attend your wedding, but we have some conditions, which we could not announce in the mail."

"Like what?"

Jenny beamed an ear-to-ear smile. "We would like you to attend our wedding shortly afterwards."

Richard fainted.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"Whu...where am I? And why am I wearing armor?"

Alice laughed as she pulled Richard out of the ditch. "Because you're the White Knight, of course!"

"White...Knight?" Richard asked, as he looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. The surroundings of the White Queen's castle, where the ditch was located on the ceiling.

Richard clung to Alice in surprise, causing her to laugh again. "Really, Richard! This is the least scary place in Wonderland!"

A second passed before the details clicked together in Richard's mind: "We're in Wonderland? In a shared dream? But why?"

"You called the Banns, sent the invitations, and paid for the venue. But still there are a few things that need to happen before the ceremony, and I can't think of a better place than here to do this one."

Alice grasped his hand, and leapt off the ceiling towards the floor...which gave way, and the two landed in a very different room: a large hall with animals and chessmen in attendance, with the White Queen herself at the end. Everyone shuffled back and forth, carrying all sorts of white flowers and cloth decorations.

"Welcome back, Alice!" called the Queen. "I see you're just in time for your wedding rehearsal! Please do forgive us, for we are not quite ready ourselves!"

Richard took a while to adjust himself to the newer surroundings. As he did, Alice's Wonderland outfit visibly restitched itself to become a pure white dress, surprising him even more.

"Alice, I..." Richard said through a confused smile. "Isn't this an odd place for a wedding rehearsal?"

"I'd much rather make mistakes in front of people I _know_ I can trust, thank you very much."

At that, Richard's smile faded briefly. "You still don't...?"

"I'm trying to put trust in your family, yes, but it's still a new thing for me. I'm not used to it yet."

Richard nodded, then brought his smile back. "Oh well. Practice makes perfect?"

"Indeed."

At that, the White Queen called out: "Alright! Places everyone! We're ready to begin the rehearsal! Furry creatures on the bride's side, chessmen on the groom's! Richard, come to us, your hair wants adjustment!"

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Alice, Dodgson and Dr. Wilson sat together at a small table, in a small room, in the corner of Dodgson's Oxford residence.

"I suppose you can guess why I called you here?"

Both Dr. Wilson and Dodgson nodded, but it was Dr. Wilson who spoke first: "Normally it is the father's duty to lead you down the isle, and give you away to your husband at the wedding ceremony. However, with your father being more than twenty years dead, that is impossible."

"So you w..want-t one of s...us, to be a sub...subst-t-ti...tute."

"Exactly." nodded Alice. "I ask you because both of you fulfilled at least one of the functions of a father at some point in my life. Dr. Wilson, you kept me safe and encouraged me as I grew up in Rutledge. Dodgson, you gave me the skills I needed to make it in the world. For that, I am grateful to both of you."

Dodgson seemed taken aback. "I m...must ad...mit, it's t...st-still surprising to hear you're st..ill grateful to me. After all I c-confessed to, not so long ago...I brought D..doctor B-b-Bumby into your life! If you'd le...learned...it any sooner, I st-still worry you'd have c-called me a mm...monster."

"I myself harbor a similar sentiment." said Dr. Wilson with a nod. "If I'm not mistaken, you still refer to your confinement within Rutledge's as one of the worst portions of your life, second only to the death of your family."

"Please don't be so hard on yourselves." said Alice. "You both regret the harm you inflicted upon me, and did your best to make things better. If we focused solely on the negative within people, there would be no decency left. Even the Doctor has done horrible things, after all."

"Speaking of, why is he not at the table? He's the one who started you down the path of trusting people again, after all."

"To be honest, Dr. Wilson," said Alice as her gaze briefly lost focus, "I tried. But Madame Vastra says the Doctor is refusing all attempts at communication. He wishes to be left alone, and he won't say why."

The conversation paused, as each thought about their own experiences with the Doctor during and after the incident with the Weeping Angel, before Dodgson spoke up again:

"Well, I..if not him, then...who? I p-p-personally don't fe..feel worthy of s..su...of such an...honour."

"Neither do I. I suppose the final choice is up to you, Alice."

Alice nodded, and looked between the two for nearly a minute before saying:

"Very well. I choose..."

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"The what?" Meredith asked her newly-married son.

"The Lobster Quadrille, Mother! It's a dance Alice invented. It's her sincere wish we dance it at our wedding reception."

"It's why," said Alice as she twirled her wedding-dress, "we requested the male guests wear red coats; they're the 'lobsters'!"

"And you didn't bother to tell us until the reception started because...?"

"I must agree with my wife." said Thomas. "We're bound to embarrass ourselves unless we know how the dance works beforehand!"

Alice smiled a cheeky smile. "I'd say that's part of the fun! But if you insist, Richard and I shall demonstrate."

She led Richard to the center of the floor, where there were two rugs: one blue, and one tan, to represent the sea and the shore. Air-filled balloons lay scattered around the floor.

Alice kicked the balloons into the crowd. "First step is to clear the 'jellyfish' out of the way..."

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

" _LET THE GAME BEGIN!"_ shouted the Red Queen, announcing the beginning of the Queensland croquet tournament.

Alice bowed to the crowd, and straightened her flamingo. With a firm but gentle strike, she sent the hedgehog spinning under multiple Card Guards. The assembled crowd, floating by on platforms and boats of all sorts, cheered Alice on.

" **A fine hit,** _ **"**_ commented her opponent, the Jabberwock, who added a slow clap. **"But don't rest on your laurels just yet. We have been practicing. You haven't."**

"Duly noted."

Sure enough, Alice failed to reach a wicket with her next stroke, and had to pass her turn on to the Jabberwock, who extended his turn by hitting Alice's hedgehog with his own...

….to the dismay of the hedgehogs involved, as they both exclaimed "Ouch!" in unison.

While Alice waited for her turn to come around again, she noticed a familiar presence on the green.

"Hello, Cat. I see you've lost your fear of the Queen."

" _We never lose our fears. The fact that half this domain remains populated, despite you having fought through and conquered it multiple times, is a testament to that."_

"Well, I seem to have learned to live with them for now. Only time will tell if the choices I've made, and the people I've put my trust in, are the right ones."

The Cheshire Cat snickered. " _Trust your instincts, Alice. They've never led you astray...when they bothered to lead, of course._ "

Alice smiled as her adviser faded away, and she returned to the game.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"Merci beaucoup." said Alice to the shopkeeper.

As they walked away with their souvenir, Richard laughed. "You know, my dear, when I chose Paris as a honeymoon destination, I had no idea you were so fluent in French!"

"I learned it from Jules Verne." replied Alice, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

Richard, however, was flabbergasted. "Really?"

"Of course. He dreams in French, so when I was-"

"No, not that!" exclaimed Richard, as he pointed down the street. "I mean speak of the devil!"

Where Richard was pointing, Jules Verne was sitting outside a bookstore, signing copies of his latest book _Sans dessus dessous_.

As they looked, Verne turned towards them, having seen Richard's motion out of the corner of his eye. When he saw Alice, his whole body seemed to freeze for an imperceptible instant.

"I think he recognized me!" whispered Alice.

Richard looked between the two, and said: "Well, why not. Let's get in line."

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"Hurry up, boy! There isn't a moment to lose!"

Alice stumbled through the door of the theatre, Strax almost shoving her through. Vastra and Jenny followed shortly afterwards.

Alice grumbled: "I'm just barely back from my honeymoon, eager for rest, and you drag me into another adventure?"

"My deepest apologies, Mrs. Hargreaves, said Vastra. "but we cannot wait any longer. This traveling magician is actually a Somnopsid in disguise, and he's rewriting the perceptions of whoever visits this show. We need to beat him at his own game in order to end this madness."

"For this task, we require a specialist in psychic combat, namely you." added Strax, as he continued to push her through the hallway.

"Alright, I'll do it!" Alice exclaimed, walking out of Strax's path. "Just give me a moment to concentrate, Humpty Dumpty."

Strax's face contorted in anger. "Humpty Dumpty! I'll see you tried for insubordination, you-"

Jenny sharply pulled Strax aside. "That's enough of that! Alice isn't a soldier, she's a friend. You don't go around threatening friends!"

Strax grumbled, and stepped to the side.

"What was all that about?"

"Strax had an accident a long time ago that inspired the original poem. He's a little sensitive about it."

Alice nodded knowingly at Vastra's explanation.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"AAAAH!"

Richard screamed as he awoke, nearly falling off the bed.

Alice awoke at the same time. "What's wrong, dear?"

Once Richard stopped hyperventilating, he said: "Could you _please_ stop pulling me into Wonderland? I barely made it out with my neck intact this time!"

"I'm sorry," said Alice through a groggy haze. ""But...these days, it doesn't seem to be up to me. Wonderland has been even more chaotic than usual since..."

"Since you got pregnant?"

Alice nodded, and sighed.

They leaned back into the bed, to try and go back to sleep, but after several minutes neither of them felt any sleepier.

Alice broke the silence. "What if my baby has their own Wonderland? Their own private corner in the Dark Places of the Inside? Will it be full of happy things? Or..."

"...Or will the Mara notice?" added Richard.

Alice turned over to face her husband. "I'm frightened, Richard. More than I have ever been in my life. Not for myself, but for my child. What kind of mother will I be? What if..."

The minute he saw tears form in her eyes, Richard pulled her closer.

"Whatever happens, you can count on me being right there beside you every step of the way. Doing my best to help you through whatever hardships life throws at us. And if you think about it...you survived a fire, insanity, Dr. Bumby, poverty and a Weeping Angel before we met. Compared to that, a normal life should be a piece of cake."

Alice smiled, and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I don't know. I've heard what monsters children can be."

"Oh, one glance at your Vorpal Blade should set them straight."

They laughed, kissed, and went back to sleep.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

…...

…...

 _I have been brought low. The pain lingers. But I shall return. I always return. I am eternal._

 _As long as there is life, there shall be me._

 _As long as there is pain and suffering, as long as everyone fears the future, the wheel of time shall turn._

 _And when the wheel reaches its lowest point...that is when I shall strike. And strike I shall. Again, and again, and again, until I am triumphant._

 _No matter how many times I am defeated, in the end the Universe will belong to the Mara._

…...

…...

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

All was quiet in the Hargreaves household. Richard pored over stack upon stack of blueprints for narrow-gauge locomotives, while Alice sang _Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat_ to little Arthur Hargreaves in his crib.

All her attempts to put him to sleep, however, were interrupted by a grinding sound from outside their window. A sound somewhere between a key on piano wire and the tearing of space and time.

 _Vrrooooosssshhh... Vrrroooooooooooosssshhhhh...Vrrrrooooooooosssshhhh...CLUNK!_

"What on Earth is that racket?" said Richard, disturbed from his train of thought.

Alice, who recognized the sound, smiled and said: "It's not on Earth."

She picked Arthur into her arms, and walked to the window. Sure enough, when she looked outside she saw a familiar blue box.

"Richard dear, we're about to have guests." she said as she walked to the door. "I suggest you make yourself at least _somewhat_ presentable."

Richard groaned in frustration. "Great, now I'll have to start all over again..." With great reluctance, he stacked the blueprints into neater piles, put on an evening coat, and followed his wife.

Alice reached the entrance first, and opened it carefully. On the other side was a young woman, and a very much older man with a tall face and white hair.

"Doctor?" Alice asked.

"Alice Liddell." the Doctor stated in response, adding a slight bow. "Good to see you after all these years."

"How many years has it been exactly? You look so much older.."

"Actually, this isn't age. It's regeneration." the Doctor responded, and Alice gave a knowing nod before he continued: "But to answer your question...almost a millenium. I'm over 2000 years old now."

Alice's eyes widened for an instant. "That is a long time. I'm actually surprised you remember me." Then, she turned to the young woman beside her old friend. "Is this your new travelling companion?"

"Yes indeed." said the Doctor. "Alice, meet Clara Oswald. Clara, meet Alice Liddell."

"Charmed." said Clara, extending her hand.

Alice returned the handshake with her free hand. "Likewise. And technically it's Alice Hargreaves now."

This caught the Doctor by surprise. "You're married?"

"Yes, to me." said Richard as he finally appeared at the door. "Name's Richard. And you must be the Doctor I've heard so much about."

"And this is our son, Arthur." Alice said as she looked lovingly at the baby in her arms.

Again, the Doctor was surprised. "Really? He said his name was ' _Typhoonami, the Great and Terrible Hungerer_.'"

Alice, Richard, and Clara looked at the Doctor and the baby in confusion. The only word the Doctor offered in explanation was "I speak baby," followed by a shrug.

"...Well, it is almost tea-time." said Alice awkwardly. "Richard, could you hold Arthur while I put the kettle on?"

Richard did as Alice requested, and guided the Doctor and Clara into the house.

"Well, make yourselves comfortable, I suppose. I wasn't really expecting guests, so..."

The Doctor interrupted him: "Join the club. I wasn't expecting this either."

"What?"

"I can tell at a glance that this isn't the Alice who fought that Weeping Angel with me." the Doctor said, almost mournfully. "That Alice was cold and detached, sworn off men, and unable to function in the real world. In Wonderland, however, she was a warrior without equal, and the master of all things 'Alicey.' This...I could never imagine her being this happy."

Richard smiled. "Well, I'd like to be able to say I pulled her out of her pit of despair...but truth is, she did that on her own. All I did was throw her a line. And then she returned the favor; not just for me, but for half the people of London."

"Sounds like we've all got some stories to share." chimed in Clara.

"Indeed." said Alice, as she set the table in the nearby room. "Life hasn't always been easy, and it's all but guaranteed to have even more hardships in store. But one thing I'll say for sure is that I wouldn't trade this life for anything."

"What is life but a dream?" responded the Doctor, to a chorus of laughter.

Soon they all sat down to tea, and spoke of days gone by.

* * *

FIN!

Happy new year, and I hope you enjoyed A Dream of Fangs and Flowers!

As always, Fave/Follow, Review, and keep being the most wonderful fans of American McGee's Alice and Doctor Who!


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